Restaurant owner apologizes after saying he wouldn't serve customers wearing MAGA hats | TheHill - The Hill

The owner of a California restaurant apologized on Friday after he vowed not to serve customers who are wearing President TrumpDonald John TrumpDozens of undocumented workers terminated from Trump properties: report Trump: Pelosi is 'very bad for our country' Dem lawmaker to bring former Trump property undocumented worker to State of the Union MORE’s signature “Make America Great Again” hats.

J. Kenji López-Alt, who works as a chef-partner of the Wursthall restaurant in San Mateo, said in a statement that it was “disrespectful and reckless” to make that statement about the hats without talking to his staff.

"After having seen the red hat displayed so prominently in so many moments of anger, hate, and violence, to me  —  and many others  —  the hat began to symbolize exactly that: anger, hate, and violence," López-Alt wrote. 

“My message was intended to reject anger, hate and violence, and indicate that these shouldn’t be welcomed in our society and aren’t welcome in our community,” he added. “It was meant to be directed at those who would try to bring messages of hate, violence, and anger into my place of business, no matter what form it comes in.”

López-Alt claimed that his words were misconstrued by the media and insisted that the restaurant’s policy about the Trump campaign hats has not changed.

“Wursthall will continue, as it always has, to serve all customer regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual preference, gender orientation, disability, or political opinion — so long as they leave hate, anger, and violence outside of the doors of our restaurant,” López-Alt wrote.

López-Alt, an award-winning author and the son of a Japanese immigrant, wrote in a tweet on Sunday that customers wearing MAGA hats would not be served.

“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,” the now-deleted tweet read.

López-Alt, who penned the 2015 book “The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science,” has reportedly also compared MAGA hats to Ku Klux Klan hoods, the San Francisco Chronicle reported 

“MAGA hats are like white hoods except stupider because you can see exactly who is wearing them,” another deleted tweet reportedly read.

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https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/428197-restaurant-owner-apologizes-after-saying-he-wouldnt-to-serve 2019-02-02 19:10:34Z