No way. It’s just the usual set of ignorati.
Here’s the story, from the (Phoenix) Arizona Republic.
Barefoot Russell Brand horrifies diners
Diners at an upmarket restaurant were horrified when Russell Brand walked in barefoot.
The yoga-loving actor arrived at Los Angeles eatery Cecconi’s without shoes and the clientele were unimpressed, although staff didn’t seem to mind even when other patrons complained.
A source told National Enquirer magazine: ”Brand walked in with three buddies and the host immediately looked down, saw he was barefoot – yet never said a word! People kept eyeing Brand’s bare feet, rolling their eyes and two customers finally complained to the manager, saying they believed it was against health regulations to serve someone with no shoes on. But not wanting to alienate a celebrity, management did nothing.”
Or maybe management knows better than to listen to a bunch of whingey, ignorant customers. Maybe the management knows, as the rest of us do, that it is not against health regulations to serve someone with no shoes on. How long do we have to keep fighting that myth?
Russell Brand is fairly well-known for going barefoot a lot of places, and according to the story he is training to become a yoga instructor (perfect for bare feet!).
This really is the way complaints ought to be handled. If other customers have a “complainer’s veto”, then we need to make sure that, if a customer complains, we complain back. Complain about their hair; complain about their tattoo. If the business is going to toss one of us because another customer complained, then we ought to get the same courtesy and right to have a customer of our own choice tossed.
I actually had this work (not the tossing, but using the idea to prevent my being tossed). It was in a Wal-Mart, of all places. An assistant manager was concerned about my bare feet, and asked, “What if customers complain?”
“Oh,” I replied. “We get a free toss? Then I’d like you to toss tattooed customers. After all, many people don’t like them.” (I quickly explained that it was just an example, which was a good thing, since he showed me a pretty extensive tattoo.) But he got it, and gave me no more grief.
It just shouldn’t have to be the case that one has to be a celebrity to be able to go about our daily business barefoot.
And it would be even better if management really knew the health regulations and then explained them to customers who complained.
Ahcuah 
Today bare feet, tomorrow dark skin. Salami slice by salami slice, we go back to Jim Crow, to lynching, to slavery. And those who think they will be the slave owners of the future will not only be the slaves, they already are. Eternal vigilance is still the price of liberty. Keep watching and alerting. You are doing good.
I like your tattoo example. I though of using something like that if someone ever told me I would offend customers. Think about this, what if a store employee stopped someone like this:
“Excuse me, you can’t be in here like that”.
-What?
“Uh, you have full tattoos on both arms, you need to wear a long sleeve shirt.”
-What’s it to you? It’s 90 degrees out there.
“Well, we have a lot of elderly customers who find these kinds of extreme tattoos offensive, well, it looks kind of ‘dirty’ to them. Just put on a long sleeve shirt and you can come back in.”
Can you imagine such a scenario? How ridiculous would that seem? Yet that is pretty much the same thing that happens to those that like to go barefoot.