Today, Denyse Santoro, an owner of the East Village wine bar & tapas restaurant Ballaró, sent an email to its neighbors explaining why they woke up on Monday morning to find “WE DO NOT PLAY TAYLOR SWIFT HERE YOU CUNTS GRAZIE” scrawled in chalk on the sidewalk outside the bar.

According to Santoro, she was entertaining a group of 15 at Ballaró on Sunday night. But, Santoro says, she was soon berated by the gang—who told her to “go back to your country”—all because of their manic desire to hear the voice of one Taylor Swift:

I know that I was offended, degraded and treated like shit by a group of 15 drunk people without any valid reason. They were screaming “BOO, YOU SUCK!” at me and my wait staff because Taylor Swift wasn’t playing on our sound system. I then played two Taylor Swift songs for them to placate them and they were dancing and singing all together so I assumed I had made my customers happy. However, after the two songs ended and the playlist moved on to other artists, they started complaining even more and it escalated. They started screaming that the songs I played weren’t the right one and I was told that, “this place is shit, the music and the people here suck.” I was then told to, “Go back to your country with that fucking immigrant face.”

She then kicked the group out of the bar, which she says they left without first paying a $500 tab.

The next day, the writing in the photo you see above appeared at the bar’s doorstep—a letter as scarlet as the blood that will run from the veins of any bar owner who dares stand up to to the next seething mob of drunk Taylor Swift lunatics.

If you are, or know, one of the alleged Taylor torchbearers, or if you were at Ballaró during the night in question, get in touch. The owner’s full email is below, all emphasis hers:

Dear Neighbors,

As one of the owners of Ballaro, I wanted to shed some light on the events that took place at my establishment this last Sunday night. In my eyes, it was extremely ridiculous. It’s easy to talk shit and to make snap judgements without ever knowing what truly took place, which is why I wanted to write this letter.

To start, I do not know who wrote that sentence on the floor outside of our place, but it was not me or anyone who works at Ballaro. That’s not who I am - I grew up in a family that taught me how to respect people the same... their skin color, race, religion, sexual orientation and age is never taken into consideration when I’m serving customers. I treat everyone with the upmost respect.

I know that I was offended, degraded and treated like shit by a group of 15 drunk people without any valid reason. They were screaming “BOO, YOU SUCK!” at me and my wait staff because Taylor Swift wasn’t playing on our sound system. I then played two Taylor Swift songs for them to placate them and they were dancing and singing all together so I assumed I had made my customers happy. However, after the two songs ended and the playlist moved on to other artists, they started complaining even more and it escalated. They started screaming that the songs I played weren’t the right one and I was told that, “this place is shit, the music and the people here suck.” I was then told to, “Go back to your country with that fucking immigrant face.”

This was the point that I lost control and I finally broke under the consistent barrage of snarky comments to myself and my staff. We had done nothing but serve them and try to make their time as enjoyable as possible and we were all being treated poorly. I yelled at them to leave and asked them all to go.

One of the women in the group took out her phone and said that she was going to make a viral video so no one would come to Ballaro anymore. Now this, more than anything, upsets me because Ballaro is a gathering place for neighbors, friends, lovers and strangers alike. We have a community that gathers in Ballaro and we all love and support each other and welcome anyone in our restaurant and bar. To possibly lose all that because of someone’s tainted point of view on social media, would be the worst thing.

My mission is to make everyone who enters through the front door feel like they are at home, because sometimes New York hardens even the best of us and we forget the true values in life: community and peace.

I’m a dreamer, and as a dreamer I would love to change the world, starting even in the smallest ways. So please, let’s make LOVE VIRAL and not hate!

If anyone is bothered at the way I run my wine bar, I’d love to have a calm conversation with them face-to-face. If you truly dislike Ballaro, than luckily there are a million other places in New York that you can go to. I can’t allow groups of belligerent drunk people to insult my bar, myself or my staff. This place is my heart and soul, and I need to protect that.

I’ve learned that everybody deserves a second chance and I have learned the importance of always responding in love, no matter what insults or hurt is thrown at me.

East Village, I hope you will be safe and sound, Taylor Swift or no Taylor Swift.

Sincerely,

BALLARO

Contact the author at jordan@gawker.com.