A California restaurant owner vowed to boot any customer who wears a “Make America Great Again” hat.
J. Kenji López-Alt, the chef and part-owner of Wursthall restaurant in San Mateo, wrote on Twitter that he believes the pro-Trump hat is akin to wearing a swastika.
“It hasn’t happened yet, but if you come to my restaurant wearing a MAGA cap, you aren’t getting served, same as if you come in wearing a swastika, white hood, or any other symbol of intolerance and hate,” he wrote on Twitter, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“MAGA hats are like white hoods except stupider because you can see exactly who is wearing them,” he wrote in another tweet that has since been deleted.
Diners split on ban:
Diners at the restaurant has mixed feelings about the reported ban.
“I see where he’s coming from, but I don’t think you should just keep people out because of a hat,” Jamie Hwang told The Chronicle. “I get that idea, that maybe that hat could mean the person wearing it is just looking for a fight, but just cutting off dialogue, not giving a chance to get to know someone — I just don’t know if that’s something I would do.”
Esther Shek told the outlet that she believes that hats have “come to represent racism, intolerance, exclusivity” but added that refusing to serve Trump supporters is “what the right wants. They already feel like they’re being demonized by what they call the liberal elite. We shouldn’t add fire to that. Instead, it should be us creating a dialogue, leaving a space open to discuss the issues.”
“You’re discriminating against those with different political views,” another diner added. “That’s just not OK.”
