On what should have been a bustling night for OBriens Bar & Grill, the New York City establishment’s owner blamed Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for his place being empty.
“You’ve wronged us, make it right,” Michael O’Brien exclusively told Us Weekly about the A-list couple on Thursday, July 2.
OBriens Bar & Grill is located on 31st Street, directly across the street from Madison Square Garden, where Swift and Kelce, both 36, are rumored to be getting married on Friday, July 3.
The area surrounding the Garden, and therefore OBriens, has been largely barricaded and flooded with law enforcement since Thursday, July 2, when Swift and Kelce are rumored to have had their rehearsal dinner inside the arena.
“We’ve reached out to the city, the mayor’s office, NYPD, Travis Kelce’s PR team, Taylor Swift’s management company, I believe owned by her family or run by her family,” O’Brien said. “Travis and Taylor stonewalled [us]. No replies to emails or phone calls or messages left.”
O’Brien explained he was interested in working together with Swift and Kelce, given his bar’s proximity to their reported wedding venue.
“We offered the place for their people, for their guests, for their staff as a place to relax, hang out,” he said. “Maybe the staff wants to eat [or] cater a private event while their event is on across the street; staff that works for them, road crew, whatever.”
O’Brien continued, “Or we said, if you want a private event with the block closed, look to buy us out. Whether you want to use us as a function or you just want us closed for privacy, we are more than willing to do whatever it is you need. Work with us, talk to us.”
Despite his best efforts, O’Brien said he received “no response.”
While the NYPD has told O’Brien that the sidewalk in front of his bar remains open, he has not found that to be the case.
“If you look outside, you see nothing but barriers at either end of the sidewalk, not allowing people down the street,” O’Brien said.
All of the commotion comes at an inopportune time for the bar, given the holiday weekend and all of the excitement about the 2026 World Cup.
“We expected a busy day,” O’Brien said. “World Cup is on, tourists are in town for the wedding and for the 250th anniversary. The big ships are sailing, the fireworks are on town in town. The World Cup, especially, is the main event for us as a bar.”
On a typical night like Thursday’s, O’Brien said they’d usually have about 150 people. Instead, they only had six.
O’Brien added, “At this point we’re closing tomorrow because we’ve heard it’s going to be the same as this or worse tomorrow.”
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