2 Chainz’s Atlanta restaurant shut down for violating COVID-19 guidelines

The popular eatery was cited for not following city orders for social distancing and capacity limits.

May 27, 2020

2 Chainz speaks onstage at the REVOLT Summit. Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Revolt)

The Georgia State Police have reportedly shut down one of 2 Chainz’s Atlanta area restaurants for disobeying COVID-19 social distancing guidelines.

According to TMZ, on Monday evening Escobar Restaurant & Tapas, was shut down during a Memorial Day Weekend party. Local authorities allegedly drove by the eatery and “noticed that the location was rather loud, busy, and occupied to be operating as a restaurant at that time of night.”

Further substantiating the officers’ suspicions was that the restaurant prominently advertised the night’s event and posted several video clips to the Instagram Stories of its official account showing how crowded the venue was allowed to become.

Social distancing and face masks went out the window as hordes of people danced, smoked hookah and sat shoulder-to-shoulder while ordering bottle service. There was reportedly even a line formed down the block of more partygoers waiting their turn to squeeze into the restaurant as the evening wore on.

2 Chainz’s Atlanta restaurant was reportedly shut down by police for allegedly violating #covid19 guidelines. Here’s footage from Memorial Day weekend. pic.twitter.com/EayIL9XoxO

— theJasmineBRAND (@thejasminebrand) May 26, 2020

The publication reports law enforcement “spoke to the manager before shutting the location down as it was violating executive orders regarding protocol issued due to COVID-19.”

This lackadaisical response to the pandemic that is potentially only midway through its first wave and still sweeping across several continents comes in the wake of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp opting to reopen the state’s businesses in late April despite concerns from the World Health Organization.

2 Chainz born Tauhedd Epps, assured fans and patrons that he planned to only open his restaurants for limited service and would also donate meals to the homeless.

But in the weeks since then, his employees appear to have taken a more lenient approach, despite the fact that Georgia law requires them to maintain social distancing practices and only permit 10 patrons inside per 300 square feet of public space.