Video showing confrontation at Nick's in the Sticks goes viral

A heated weekend confrontation at Nick's Original Filet House, at 4108 Culver Road in Tuscaloosa, has gone viral due to a video capturing part of the argument.

In the roughly 2 1/2-minute clip, out front of what's also known as Nick's in the Sticks, a man and woman both wearing light blue Nick's T-shirts are speaking with a group of customers. The woman in the Nick's T-shirt walks inside saying she's going to call the police. The man in the Nick's T-shirt begins to follow, then comes back out.

A man identified as Hunter Sartain says "You messed up, man." Sartain is standing with several friends, some of whom are Black. He'd been sitting with them earlier, inside the restaurant.

The man in the Nick's T-shirt says "No, I didn't mess up. Naw." As Sartain continues speaking, the man intervenes a couple of times to say "That was not ..." or "That was not the intention...."

Sartain: " 'Cause this is their first time experiencing, they're friends of mine here, and then you wanna make me feel bad because I sat down at the table? And then you asked me, you asked me, if I'm gonna (consort) with these (and Sartain spells out the N-word)."

The Nick's worker denies it. "Naw naw. (expletive)."

Sartain: "Yeah, that's exactly what you said. Every one of them (referring to his friends watching, one of them shooting video) heard it."

Nick's worker: "No they did not, 'cause they was all inside."

Sartain: "Yes they did. Yes they did. And when I got p*ssed off, and you knew I was p*ssed, you went and hide behind the bushes," indicating the right side of the Nick's building, "and I walked right around there and couldn't find you. That's not right."

The man sits down at a front bench. "I'm right here. I am right here."

More: The tradition continues: Hegenbarth's widow takes the reins at "Nick's in the Sticks"

Sartain says he'd just been bragging about how good the place was to his friends, who were making their first visit to Nick's. Someone else says they'd already begun making plans to return. Another of the guests says: "Today is my son's 22nd birthday, and he has to encounter this, really?" Several voices begin to overlap.

"... and they wanted to come back, until you showed your *ss out here, and had a problem with race," Sartain said.

A voice, apparently that of the video operator, says "You should be ashamed of yourself, man." While Sartain continues to talk with the Nick's man, the same voice says "Our first time down here, and he called us a (n-word)."

Sartain, still speaking to the seated Nick's worker, says: "You say 'So you condone this?' That's what you asked me, 'You condone this?' You condone the Blacks? Ain't no condonin' about it. They're my friends. They're just like us. You just didn't want 'em in there. And I'm not for that.

"And you know what, as far as I'm concerned? Everybody that eats in here that I know will probably never be back."

"Oh, this is going live," says the voice of the video man. "I'm posting all of this."

Sartain turns away from the man to say to his friends, "I apologize y'all's first time that this happened." One voice calls out "Thank you, Mr. Hunter." Another voice says "You can't fix stupid, sir." The person shooting video then talks directly with Sartain, who repeats his story: "When I walked out, he jumped all over me and said 'So you condone sitting at the table with the (spelling out the N-word)?'"

As the video spread widely over the weekend, calls came for boycotts. Nick's is closed Sundays and Mondays, but has listed 5-9 p.m. as its Tuesday hours. Messages to reach those involved were unsuccessful.

Founder Nick Del Gatto died in 2003 , at 94. While in school, he'd met Greene County's Frances Wilson. They opened the first Nick's in 1939 or '40, in a barn-like structure in Knoxville. That first sign read "Nicks at Knixville." Much of the business reputedly came from Tuscaloosa County, which had been dry for decades. Del Gatto moved to the current location, south of the B.F. Goodrich Plant on U.S. Highway 11/43, when Tuscaloosa legalized alcohol in 1955.

Lloyd Hegenbarth had worked for Nick, who continued to stay on as informal host, even after his retirement, and bought the business in the '80s. He died in 2014, and his widow, Carla, has owned it since . Her husband and co-manager is Jack Moltz.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Video showing confrontation at Nick's in the Sticks goes viral