Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) was denied entry into a private event Monday at the Nashville International Airport, where Governor Bill Lee and representatives of Elon Musk’s tunnel construction company, the Boring Company, unveiled plans to connect the airport with downtown Nashville through the Music City Loop.
In a series of videos published by Jones on Facebook, the state representative was seen being directed to leave the venue by law enforcement and security officials who informed the Democrat multiple times that the event was private and only individuals “on the list” were permitted to attend.
One of the videos shows Jones attempting to maneuver past a security guard to enter the event venue.
Another video shows Jones pleading with a uniformed law enforcement officer to let him inside the venue, to which the officer informed him that the event was private.
In a video taken after he was denied entry to the event, Jones said it was “troubling” he was not permitted to attend the private event.
While Jones claimed he went to the event on behalf of his constituents to inquire about “questions about the accessibility and affordability” of the Music City Loop, he ended the video by asserting that the project “is not in the best interest of Nashvillians or Tennesseans” and instead is “in the corporate interest of the wealthiest man of the world who sees [the Nashville] community as a playground.”
During Monday’s event, Lee said that the Music City Loop will be paid fully by the Boring Company, making it 100 percent privately funded, with “no cost to Tennessee taxpayers.”
Jones’ controversy at Monday’s event comes a little over one week after he was asked to leave another event at the airport when U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference to highlight the opening of a special Transportation Security Administration security lane designated exclusively for military members and their families.
Ahead of that event, Jones said the secretary’s staff reportedly asked him to leave ahead of the start of the press conference, where he said he intended to question Noem about federal immigration enforcement efforts in Nashville.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Justin Jones” by Justin Jones.
Attention whores gonna attention whore, but it grows stale and boring after a point. Jones is like the lead singer for a boy band from the Eighties.
It’d be a shame if security used Justina’s face to open doors while being escorted out to the street.
What part of “private event” did he fail to understand? Just another democrat pointlessly grandstanding and offering zero to his constituents except virtue signaling.