A lesbian bar in Massachusetts that was trying to attract more customers ended up setting off a furious backlash by making masks optional one night per week–six years after the COVID pandemic.
Mask Mania
Journalists Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog’s Blocked and Reported podcast was the first to report on the insane story of Last Ditch bar in Greenfield, and it has since gone viral after The Boston Globe covered it.
According to The Globe, Last Ditch opened last year as a gathering place for lesbians, and their friends. Its founders welcome patrons who can not afford the cover charge and bar police from the space. A post on the bar’s Instagram breaks down the “house rules”:
They also require everyone inside to, at a minimum, wear a KN-95 mask. But customers reportedly began thinning out and the bar fell behind on its bills. After consulting with the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, it announced a plan to make Saturday nights “mask optional” in an effort to bring in enough customers to keep the doors open.
Last Ditch publicized the decision in an Instagram post on August 31, 2026 (yes, 2026), addressed to its “immunocompromised disabled divas.” The response was anything but affectionate. The post drew more than 400 comments. And while some supported the change, the overwhelming majority did not.
One commenter accused the bar of being “complicit in a mass disabling event.” Another wrote, “I hope your venue gets firebombed.”
Again, this is a present-day story–not something from the 2020 archives.
The Failed Apology
Management apologized two days later and faced fresh backlash because its apology graphic reportedly lacked descriptive text for visually impaired readers.
By the time the bar held a community meeting on September 11, only one founder–26-year-old Jackie Matellian, who uses she/they pronouns–remained involved in its daily operation. According to The Globe, the other two had stepped back months earlier citing various pressures and health issues. One, who uses it/its pronouns, apparently enrolled in clown school and is sleeping in a shed.
The community meeting consisted of about 10 people sitting in a masked circle on the dance floor joined by another group on Zoom and two mediators. It opened with a calming breathing exercise before the criticism started flowing.
One mediator, a licensed therapist, urged participants to move beyond the hostility on social media. But that suggestion rubbed some attendees the wrong way. Chief among them: Performer So Noir, who reportedly identifies as a gender-expansive lesbian using he/him pronouns, and joined via Zoom. Noire accused the therapist, who is white, of focusing on the feelings of the largely white bar staff instead of acknowledging the harm Noire believed the mask change had caused.
The remaining owner broke down as she described trying to save a business she never expected to run alone. She told the meeting she had lived in her truck for six months while putting money into the bar and was working four jobs while faced with the responsibility of a $50,000 startup loan. The Globe reported the landlord is also seeking nearly $4,000 in overdue rent.
The following night, The Globe found little evidence that the new Saturday policy had solved Last Ditch’s problems. A DJ was playing to a nearly empty dance floor as Matellian–rocking a KN-95–danced alone on the bar’s stripper pole.
Viral Sensation
One business having no trouble attracting customers amid the inanity of this situation? The Boston Globe. Semafor Media’s Max Tani reported that, according to a note sent to Globe staff, the story brought in 1,000 new subscriptions on Tuesday. The paper’s managing editor reportedly called it “by far our best performing story of the year” and predicted it could break more Globe records.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Glenn Greenwald, host of System Update on Substack, to discuss the unbelievable series of events and what it reveals about the state of wokeness. Watch:
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Greenwald by tuning in to episode 1,404 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.