Advertisement
IRL

Conservatives launch Cheesecake Factory boycott over MAGA spat

This should go about as well as the Starbucks boycott.

Photo of Ana Valens

Ana Valens

Right-wing Twitter users are boycotting The Cheesecake Factory after one restaurant allegedly teased a customer wearing a MAGA hat.

After a Cheesecake Factory customer wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat said he was teased and intimidated over his love for President Donald Trump, right-wing Twitter users say they are boycotting the chain restaurant.

Featured Video

The story was first reported by Ben Shapiro’s conservative site the Daily Wire, which spoke to 22-year-old Eugenior Joseph, who was wearing his MAGA hat while dining at a Miami Cheesecake Factory with his girlfriend and her family. Joseph and several witnesses claim an employee walked up to him, pointed at his hat, and brought her fellow co-workers over to gawk at him. From there, the Daily Wire claims “a dozen or so employees” walked up to Joseph and made comments about him, joking that they wanted to punch his face.

Joseph told the Daily Wire that he was particularly scared of one employee who “fist bumped” another coworker and “started looking at me, balling his fists, smacking his fists, trying to scare me.”

“I got up and went to the restroom, my girlfriend followed me, and as we were walking back, a group of [the employees] came out from the back and they just started clapping and yelling, and just screaming things at me,” Joseph told the Daily Wire.

Advertisement

In response, conservative Twitter users came out in droves against the Cheesecake Factory, with Ann Coulter insisting that Joseph should receive “cheesecake for life.”

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

The hashtag #BoycottCheesecakeFactory soon popped up, with Trump supporters vowing to never enjoy a multi-tier wedge of the factory’s cheesy cakes again after Joseph’s alleged treatment. Conservatives similarly boycotted Starbucks last year, to not much avail.

Advertisement

https://twitter.com/braveheartmark/status/996733570361282560

https://twitter.com/beckyhart58/status/996414400138498049

Advertisement

https://twitter.com/CliffyFresh88/status/996229787348848640

Advertisement

https://twitter.com/theimmaculatej/status/996340674734718977

Advertisement

On the other hand, the conservative backlash may be losing some steam. Some claim right-wing Twitter users just aren’t coming out in protest enough for Joseph because he’s a Black man.

https://twitter.com/Justin_Dell/status/996373446270562304

https://twitter.com/RonMyers98/status/996440031165321216

READ MORE

Advertisement

The Cheesecake Factory has since turned to Twitter with a public statement, saying the “recent incident in one of our Miami restaurants fell short of our standards,” apologizing to Joseph and his family. The company has fired two employees, however, it also claims “not all of the information reported by the media accurately portrays what occurred.”

“The situation may have been exacerbated by an all-staff meeting that took place during our shift change between our staff members working the lunch and dinner shifts—which may have been perceived as a crowd gathering near the guests’ tables,” the Cheesecake Factory wrote on Twitter. “We look forward to speaking with Mr. Joseph to welcome him back into one of our restaurants.”

Advertisement

H/T Vice News

 
The Daily Dot