Was Tony Parker denied access to a Memphis restaurant because he didn’t have a reservation? Kelly English, a famous chef who owns an eatery called Restaurant Iris, created that impression when he sent out the following tweets on Friday night.
Confirmed MT @memphisacp: Tony Parker tried to eat dinner @restaurantiris and was denied service by @kelly_english. Can you confirm or deny?
— Kelly English (@kelly_english) May 25, 2013
We have a thirteen table restaurant. There have been times I couldn’t get my wife or parents in. I can’t create a table, Tony Parker or not.
— Kelly English (@kelly_english) May 25, 2013
According to Parker, English must have had him confused with someone else. The Spurs guard insists that he was not denied access to English’s restaurant, nor did he even go out to eat that night.
“I don’t know what is going on with that, man,” Parker told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports on Sunday. “I did not do that. Can you stop doing promos? Is that a new way of doing promos? That’s a new way of doing promotion now, using my name? I did not do that.”
English is a Grizzlies fan who has the team’s slogan “Grit, Grind” written on his arm in his Twitter avatar photo. Parker said that he heard about the story on Saturday morning and that he rarely eats at restaurants when the Spurs are on the road because he is afraid a fan of the opposing team might do something to his food.
“I stayed in my hotel room, never called or anything,” Parker said. “…I don’t know why you [media] keep fueling that. I guess he’s going to have a lot of people now going to his restaurant because you guys keep talking about it. It’s a great way to promote it with a fake reservation.”
We know Parker has been the victim of some foul play on the court during his team’s series against Memphis, but is he being used as a marketing tool off the court? That seems to be what he’s implying.
