Restaurateur: Music Icon Treated Staff Rudely

Rocker Patti Smith has legions of fans, but longtime New York City restaurateur Keith McNally is not among them. In a New York piece excerpted from his upcoming memoir, McNally recounts how Smith and ex-boyfriend Robert Mapplethorpe (the famed photographer) were regulars at a restaurant called One Fifth in Manhattan during the 1970s. They would often come in with Sam Wagstaff, described as Mapplethorpe's benefactor, and all would be well. Except:

• "On nights when Wagstaff wasn't at the table, Smith and Mapplethorpe could be very difficult to wait on," he writes. "Smith, unfortunately, was incredibly rude to the servers. It's impossible for me to listen to a Patti Smith song today without remembering her reducing a waitress to tears because she forgot to put bread on the table."

Page Six notes that the dig has attracted attention online, where Smith's defenders say she should be cut some slack because it was so long ago. The singer did not respond to the outlet's request for a comment. (Smith, 78, is still performing.)