Man who defends The Wrangler stands behind his DORA testimony

Shawn Smith denies allegations he was “shocked” his official statement existed
Berlin Sylvestre

In a candid phone call the morning of August 7, Shawn Smith spoke with a quick, confident clip as he assured Out Front that the letter given to Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) was, in fact, written and signed by him, despite a claim by Vito Marzano, the complainant in a successful discrimination case with the agency, that a mere two weeks ago, Shawn denied knowing the letter even existed. [Read the full article here.] In the letter, Shawn alleges that not only was Vito intoxicated prior to The Wrangler incident on August 31, but that Vito had also informed a group of people at Hamburger Mary’s that he had intent to “cause a fight” if denied entry into The Wrangler because of his drag attire. Shawn’s interview with Out Front went as follows:

OF: Vito claims that he saw you two weeks ago and your stance was: “What letter? I don’t know anything about that letter.”

SS: Which I find really funny. He’s actually friends with some friends of mine, so I just went to talk to them. [Editor’s Note: Vito claims he was talking to two of Shawn’s friends outside The Eagle two weeks ago and their meeting was simply happenstance.] I didn’t give a shit about [Vito], quite frankly. One thing I can recollect from that night was saying he looked good [the night of the incident], like Mike Myers’ character from “Coffee Talk” on SNL, [Linda Richman]. I thought that was fantastic, it was hilarious! And the fact that he mentioned moving to New York very, very soon — that’s all I remember talking to him about. My concern was not even with him; I didn’t even recognize him. But then I was like ‘Oh! Hey, you’re Vito,’ and then we both recognized each other. But all I remember is me telling him he looked good and that’s about it. So it blew me out of water, suddenly getting all these inquiries and whatnot.

And thanks for talking to me about this. These things have a tendency to get muddy with the he-said, she-said business, and it’s not just a gay community thing, but more of a “humankind at large” issue, so it’s nice to be able to clarify.

Absolutely.

So let’s make certain: The letter submitted to DORA was indeed written and signed by you.

Absolutely. 100 percent, that’s exactly what happened. That completely happened. Yes.

Are you an employee of The Wrangler?

No, not at all, no. When [some friends and I] ventured down [to The Wrangler at a later date], I heard what was going on with Vito and the camera and [Vito] going batshit crazy to apparently start shit — and again, that’s what he was going down there to do — I mentioned to Phil, ‘That’s funny. I told him not to do that … to, you know, not go down there and cause shit.’ So Phil’s like, ‘Can you write me a statement?’ and I went ‘Absolutely.’ And that’s it. I’m a patron [of The Wrangler]. I go down there quite a bit. I’ve only lived in Denver for fifteen months and it’s kind of my watering hole. At that time, I [lived] nearby so it was close place to drink.

Vito alleges you never really had the conversation about changing out of your drag attire before going to The Wrangler with him directly … that it was never vocalized in a one-on-one conversation, nor confirmed that he’d heard you. Per the testimony you gave to DORA, it appears that Vito not only heard it, but challenged you on it.

We were in the men’s restroom getting our makeup off and he was back there, so he obviously heard me — I’m a pretty loud person. If he didn’t hear me, that was selective hearing in his case. But everybody knew we were going down to The Wrangler and they knew their policies there, so it wasn’t a big surprise. Well, for him, it apparently was.

Thank you. Is there anything you’d like to add that I haven’t touched on?

No, I have nothing to add except that [my statement to DORA is] exactly what happened that night on August 31. And this conversation that we had at The Eagle … you know what, I haven’t seen that guy since last year. To throw my credibility out the window is pretty funny considering where he’s standing.

DORA’s determination can be read in full here.