A member of Latin country-rock band the Mavericks says he was assaulted at a sports bar in Tennessee for speaking Spanish. The Tennesseean reports that Cuban trumpet player Lorenzo Molina Ruiz, who joined the Mavericks’ “Fantastic Five” backing group in 2017, and his friend Orlando Morales, a fellow musician, were attacked by two men at Tony’s Eat & Drink in Franklin, Tennessee on Saturday night.

“I was invited to the United States to play my trumpet with The Mavericks,” Ruiz wrote in a GoFundMe page entitled Victims Of A Hate Crime. “My friend Orlando and I were just brutally attacked at a sports bar because we speak in Spanish. We didn’t do anything to anybody and got beaten up badly. My friend is in bad shape. Any support would help while we proceed with getting justice for this hate crime.” The campaign has alreay received over $20,000.

Betty Malo, wife of the Mavericks singer Raul Malo, added more details about the altercation on Instagram. “Late Saturday night/Sunday morning @molinalorenzo and his friend were jumped and brutally beaten while waiting in line to use the bathroom,” she wrote. “Their friends who were waiting at the table were approached by 2 men and said ‘Speak Fucking English. You’re in America.'”

“The bar TONY’S EAT AND DRINK located in Cool Springs, TN did nothing about it,” she continued. “They actually kicked Lorenzo out and his friend. They begged for help or at least for the bar to call the police but the bouncers refused and threaten to beat their asses if they didn’t leave. Lorenzo is fine but his friend Orlando is horrifically hurt. He has a broken nose, orbital bones, internal bleeding, and concussion.”

Local police have released photos of two suspects to the public. “The case is currently classified as an aggravated assault, which is a felony,” Franklin Police Department public information officer Lt. Charles Warner said. “It has been assigned to a detective, and an investigation is under way.” The department did not specify if the assault is being investigated as a hate crime.

Tony’s Eat & Drink stated that they are cooperating with the investigation. “We would like to send our deepest condolences to the individuals affected by the altercation that occurred,” management wrote on social media. “We want to be clear that we do not support racism or condone hate crimes at our establishment and are taking this matter seriously. We do not nor have we ever allowed for violence to perpetuate for any reason and in this specific instance, our security staff acted quickly and reasonably to bring the altercation to an end.”

The Mavericks are a Nashville-based band that combine neotraditional country music with Latin, Tejano, and rockabilly influences. In August, they released En Español, their first entirely Spanish-language album. It debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Album Chart and became the first album in Billboard history to debut in the top 10 on the Latin and Americana charts. The band led a tribute to Linda Ronstadt at the annual Hispanic Heritage Awards on PBS last night.

“For this assault to occur as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with our own performance (featuring Lorenzo) tonight on the Hispanic Heritage Awards, shows that although we’ve come a long way, we still have a long way to go,” frontman Raul Malo said in a statement on behalf of the Mavericks. “America is better than this.”