Stop falling for fake screenshots slandering Marcy’s Diner

By now Darla Neugebauer, owner of Marcy’s Diner in Portland, really doesn’t need an introduction.

Image from WCSH 6 news.

Image from WCSH 6 news.

In fact, I imagine folks in Maine (and around the country, for that matter) are pretty sick of hearing about what some have dubbed “Screaming Baby Gate,” but I’d like to point out just a couple more things before I sign off from this whole debate.

First off, Neugebauer didn’t scream in the baby’s face, as many have concluded. In fact, she didn’t even scream directly at the baby.

She was standing about ten feet away, behind the diner’s counter, as the family sat in a booth across the room, and she directed her demand for silence at the entire table.

Some might even reason that she was really only yelling at the parent’s of the baby, because after all, they were the ones who were upsetting Neugebauer and the rest of the people in the diner by not quieting the poor kid down or taking her outside.

But the bigger issue now isn’t about who she yelled at or why, it’s about the awful lies that are being spread about the diner through fake Facebook pages, false testimonies, and doctored screenshots.

Take this one for instance:

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This review on the diner’s Facebook page has been circulating on social media ever since the hysteria first began earlier this week.

Right off the bat, it’s easy for someone who knows the layout of the diner to see that the review is nonsense, because the food is all prepared right behind the bar in the dining room. So it’d be impossible for any of the cooks to “rub their junk” on anyone’s food without patrons seeing.

Neugebauer working the grill behind the bar.

Neugebauer working the grill behind the bar.

If that isn’t enough proof for you, how about the fact that this Michelle Beaulieu person never worked at Marcy’s to begin with.

“We’ve gone through a list of everyone that has ever worked here over the years,” said a Marcy’s employee who answered the phone there on Thursday morning and identified herself as Mandy, “nobody by the name of Michelle Beaulieu has ever worked here.”

Then there’s this one:

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I do not know any details of the baby’s physical or mental abilities, but the mother of the child, Tara Carson, made no mention of autism in her piece for the Washington Post yesterday in which she absolved herself of all responsibility for her (very prominent) role in the ordeal.

Regardless of that, the fact is that this offensive post- which has people in an outrage- was not written by anyone affiliated with Marcy’s Diner.

Said Mandy, “that one that’s going around calling the baby autistic, and talking about spitting in people’s food, no one working at Marcy’s had anything to do with it, it’s a fake.”

If you want more proof, here’s a screen shot of Facebook search results for Marcy’s Diner. The one on the top is the real Marcy’s in Portland, the one in the middle is for a diner in Ohio (they’ve had quite a crazy week themselves due to the name association), and the one on bottom is the fake account created solely to slander Neugebauer and her staff.

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On the diner’s real Facebook page- which has developed a cult following in the past several days- Neugebauer defended her restaurant against these slanderous attacks in her now famously-fired-up style with a post early this morning:

“I truly hope none of you think anyone here can do ANYTHING without being noticed ….spitting in things? Not really possible so the person(s) starting the smear campaign you’ll get to meet my lawyer, Bill, & if you think I’m nuts. Boy oh boy!”

Chris Shorr

About Chris Shorr

Chris is a sixth generation Portlander who loves all things Maine. He has worked with mentally ill and marginalized adults at a Portland non-profit, on a lobster boat in Casco Bay, at several high-end Portland restaurants, and at a local meat packing plant. He also ran for Portland City Council in 2013, wrote a weekly column in the now defunct Portland Daily Sun, and currently writes a weekly column in The Portland Phoenix.