Red Bank Mayor Apologizes To Gov. Murphy Over Restaurant Tirade

RED BANK, NJ - Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna says that he has apologized to Gov. Phil Murphy for an incident in which Murphy and his family were surprised with a profanity-laced tirade Sunday while they ate dinner at Char Steakhouse in the downtown district.

"Oh my god Murphy, you're such a d***," one woman said to the governor during the incident. "You having fun with your family? In the meantime, you're having all this other b******* going on." Related: Video Shows Women Aiming Profane Tirade At NJ Gov. Murphy, Family

At a Nov. 24 borough council meeting, Menna noted that he apologized to the governor following the “unfortunate incident that transpired over the weekend”:

“The opinions reflected by those two people were not - in any sense and faction of the word - the opinions and the beliefs of the residents and the visitors of Red Bank or the governor,” Menna said during the virtual meeting.

“I made that very clear, and I also spoke to the governor, and of course he was, as usual, extraordinarily gracious and understanding and that’s why we love him so much. I apologized to him for the incident, they were not our residents … and I apologize to those who are offended by that type of language in a public space.”

During a Monday afternoon news conference, Murphy empathized with New Jerseyans strained by the pandemic and its challenges:

"The stress levels are overwhelming, and they're not unfounded," Murphy said. "There's too many people out of work, too many businesses, too much economic hardship. I mentioned 16,500 families will have Thanksgiving without a family member who was with them last year. I don't condone out-of-bounds behavior, but I'm a big boy and I think I speak for my wife, but let's leave my family out of this. Let's all keep each other in our prayers right now, because this is an extraordinarily stressful period that we're in."

The Murphys reside on the Navesink River in Middletown and regularly frequent borough restaurants, according to Red Bank Green.

In New Jersey, residents can eat outdoors at restaurants without wearing a mask. In a video of the incident (see below), Murphy is first seen without a mask on, but is wearing one by the end of the clip:

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS REPEATED USE OF PROFANITY