‘Tasteless, disgusting:’ Tempe bar blames staff member for posting 9/11 shirt design
TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — A Tempe bar is blaming a young staff member for posting a t-shirt design comparing recent underage drinking arrests to 9/11 on its social media page.
Tempe Tavern, which was hit with nearly 200 underage drinking arrests earlier this week, issued a statement on Facebook, apologizing for the controversial post. The bar says an ASU student created the design, referencing Tempe Tavern and the 9/11 attacks.
The bar says the design circulated among online student chats and reached a young Tempe Tavern employee, who posted it on the business Facebook page. Management later removed the post.
The shirt had #Tavernstrong and “Our 911″ on its front and back, while the social media post read, “They hit the second tower!” The post was also up for several days.
“9/11 is nothing to joke about; the reference was reprehensible. The shirt is tasteless and disgusting,” the bar said in a post on Facebook.
Tempe police and the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control cracked down on underage drinking at the bar after authorities received complaints about underage patrons. During the operation, police say many of the underage drinkers had fake IDs.
The bar acknowledged the arrests, stating that since they complied with the investigation, no citations were issued.
“What is not widely known is that fake IDs can now be bought online that scan successfully and appear authentic. Management cooperated fully with the Tempe Police Department and the state liquor board, providing ID-scan logs and security footage that accounted for 100 percent of patrons in the bar that evening. Tempe Tavern complies with the law, which is why neither the bar nor its employees received citations from the liquor board or the Tempe Police Department.”
Of the 173 people arrested, 165 were underage and were cited and released. The other eight were booked into jail.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
