Community Corner

'Chicago Is Still A Hellhole': Man Who Tried To Sue Date In Texas Has Windy City Ties

Brandon Vezmar, 35, wrote a scathing open letter in the Chicago Tribune about why he was never returning to the city.

CHICAGO, IL — By now, you've probably heard about the Austin, Texas, man who is suing his date $17.31 — the cost of a movie ticket to see "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" — because she spent more time looking at her phone and texting instead of paying attention to her companion. But what you might not know is that Brandon Vezmar, 35, has Chicago ties that actually shed some light on his unpopular actions.

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Vezmar wrote a scathing open letter in the Chicago Tribune in January, stating that he was done with Chicago — a place he called "hell on earth" — and he was never coming back. In his letter, the Hammond, Indiana, resident talked about how his early love of the city had been washed away by the crime, violence and corruption that was spreading across Chicago:

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"[I]t is the kidnapping and torture of the young teen and the waffling response of the Chicago Police Department in labeling the actions of the perpetrators a hate crime that have sealed the deal for me.
"Crime, stupidity, racism, conformity and the lowest common denominator across the entire spectrum of life have become normalized in Chicago. This has become an insane, dangerous, soul-destroying place, and I’ve had enough. I’m leaving Chicago, and I’m never coming back."

The Chicagoist was the first to bring up Vezmar's letter after a tweet by Daniel Kay Hertz, a senior policy analyst at the Chicago Center for Tax and Budet Accountability, mentioned it.

RELATED: After 'Date From Hell,' Austin Man Sues Woman For Texting

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Vezmar — president of The Messaging Company, a media consultancy firm — spoke to the Chicagoist, but anyone expecting him to offer a mea culpa for his harsh words about Chicago in the age of Trump will be sorely disappointed. In fact, he doesn't apologize for his open letter or his lawsuit, which he has recently turned in a letter to the court to dismiss the case.

"Chicago is still a hellhole and I'm still never coming back," he wrote in an email to the Chicagoist. "I love Austin and so does everyone else who's fleeing Chicago and coming here."

As for claims that his lawsuit against his date is nothing more than white male privilege run amok, Vezmar defended his actions in a way that probably adds fire to the attacks against him.

"Entitled? ENTITLED TO WHAT? To buy other people things? To not be able to enjoy a movie? To be disrespected?," he wrote to the Chicagoist. "The premise of the question is absurd, and only the most hopeless Progressive could even conjure it up. This is man hate WRIT LARGE."


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