Josie Smith-Malave, who appeared on Top Chef’s second season, and who is openly gay, was attacked at a Long Island bar over Labor Day weekend in what appears to be a hate crime.

Josie and friends were at Partners, in Sea Cliff, Long Island, for a birthday party. The group was initially asked to leave the bar because they were suspected of being with underage drinkers (they deny this), but a bar patron reported overhearing the bouncer saying that the crowd was “getting too gay.” When Josie and her friends did leave, they were beaten in the parking lot by a group of people who were screaming anti-gay slurs.

“I’ve never experienced something like that before where people are so angry I didn’t even know where it was coming from,” said Josie.

Nassau County Police Department says they will be investigating the assault as a hate crime, which is a felony in New York.

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