The restaurant manager of the well-liked establishment in Vancouver, Stanley Park Tea House, lost his job after he refused to serve a client because of his hat.
The main problem the fired employee, Darin Hodge, had with the customer was that they were wearing a red cap with the famous Donald Trump slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
The slogan was popularized during Trump’s presidential campaign for the 2016 election.
According to Hodge, to him, the words on the hat symbolized things like racism, bigotry, hatred towards the religion of Islam, white supremacy, and homophobia.
A representative from the Sequoia Group, the owner of the restaurant revealed the Tuesday incident to media.
According to information released by Sequoia Group, when the man with the red cap appeared in the restaurant, the manager approached and informed him he would not be served unless he took off his hat.
The client persisted he had the full right to wear the hat, and as a result, he was forced to leave without being served.
Following the event, Hodge was fired because even though he was free to maintain his own personal beliefs, he still violated the establishment’s views towards tolerance.
The manager lost his job after being an employee for close to 18 months.
This is not the first case where a client is being thrown out of an establishment for political reasons after the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was denied access to Red Hen in Lexington, Va. because the owner of the restaurant did not like Trump supporters.
Fans of the controversial U.S. president have taken to Yelp and given Stanley Park Tea House numerous negative reviews. They say the First Amendment covers situations like these.
Hodge is not ready to take anything back and is proud of how he has handled himself during this entire ordeal.
