Culture

Twitter Users Reacted To The News That Brett Kavanaugh Once Got Into A Bar Fight After A UB40 Concert

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Yes, Brett Kavanaugh was questioned by police in a bar fight, as per the New York Times. Yes, that suggests he underplayed his drinking habits during last Thursday’s hearing regarding his Supreme Court nomination. And yes, now he really, really shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court. But some articles covering this story are burying the real lede: Kavanaugh allegedly a) got into a fight after attending a UB40 concert and b) got into that fight because someone mistook him for the lead singer of UB40.

This incident, which occurred in 1985 when the judge was a freshman at Yale, was brought to light by one Chad Ludington, a fellow classmate. After seeing the British reggae band — who were then riding high on their No. 1 hit cover of Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine,” perhaps the least bar fighty song about alcohol ever recorded — Kavanaugh and friends retired to a bar.

It was there that the troubles began. A man, who, like Donald J. Trump’s current nominee to the Supreme Court, had also attended the UB40 concert, then remarked that Kavanaugh might be Ali Campbell, the band’s then-frontman. This prompted Kavanaugh — who may get a lifetime job in the highest court in America — to allegedly throw his beer at his accusee, striking him with the bottle.

The police report had a slightly different version of events. It reported that it was ice, not a bottle, and it was another bud, Chris Dudley, who threw glass at the man, Dom Cozzolino, after Kavanaugh tossed ice. Still, it was enough of a tussle that law enforcement was alerted, and Kavanaugh — who attended a prep school with its own nine-hole golf course — was questioned but not arrested.

Ludington said that he felt Kavanaugh at the hearing had “mischaracterized the extent” of his drinking.


But anyway, back to UB40. The band — a mixed-race reggae outfit fronted by white men — is much more popular in their native U.K. than in America. That said, they did have a second No. 1 hit with their 1993 cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

Social media chuckleheads were quick to seize upon the UB40 news the way they did Matt Damon’s SNL appearance: as a sort of cleanse after the genuinely upsetting hearing last week, which ended with Kavanaugh seemingly destined to be confirmed. Most, including Alex Winter and Duncan Jones, relished in the absurdity of the story:

https://twitter.com/Winter/status/1046911122782076931


Some despaired over how millennials probably have no idea who UB40 even are:

Some high-profile UB40 nerds came to the rescue with genuinely interesting facts:

https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/1046913685980176384

Some cheered on the sudden and unexpected UB40 revival:

And some asked the real questions:

https://twitter.com/dylanlscott/status/1046902520013099010

We leave you with Neil Diamond playing his version of “Red Red Wine,” from 2008:

(Via NYT)

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