Restaurant Apologizes For Allegedly ‘Locking Out’ Customers Because Of Their Political Views
On Monday night after Trump’s “Keep America Great” rally at the Bojangles’ Coliseum, a number of supporters went to Bojangles’ fast food restaurant, a 10-minute walk from the Coliseum.
A few hours later, photos surfaced on social media showing Trump supporters locked outside the restaurant.
A spokesman for the Charlotte-based restaurant stated that the crowd of people that showed may have overwhelmed the workers, and the doors were subsequently locked. The restaurant later tweeted that this was a “bad decision.”
According to the restaurant chain, the shift manager who locked the doors “is no longer employed.” It is unclear whether he was fired or he voluntarily left.
The restaurant apologized for the incident.
However, a number of Trump supporters have maintained that they will boycott the chicken restaurant after they were refused service even though they were at the restaurant nearly an hour before closing time.
Speaking to The Charlotte Observer, the head of the restaurant chain’s communications, Brian Little, stated that the restaurant was not specifically targeting Trump supporters when the doors were closed. He then apologized for the incident.
He said, “We apologize for anyone who felt they were treated in a way that was disrespectful. This is not in line with who we are as a business. We serve everyone who wants to purchase one of our (items).”
Michael Furick, the local resident who posted the pictures on Facebook, wrote the caption: “Bojangles locked the doors to the Trump rally last night and denied service. Ironic because the rally was at Bojangles arena… This is pretty distasteful. I walk up to the door and people are gathered around and stated they would not serve Trump supporters.”
One of the pictures posted showed an employee in the store gesturing “stop” towards the crowd. Furick admitted that the employee was responding to him after he flashed his middle finger for being locked out.
One picture showed at least a dozen people outside the closed doors, and Furick stated that there were at least two dozen more before he took the photo.
Little stated that a “young shift manager” was on duty at the time, but that he was wrong to close the doors even though he felt overwhelmed by the sudden crowd. He stated that the manager overreacted.
He added, “He didn’t know what to do. He just closed the restaurant.”
The shift manager later called his manager, who came to the store and unlocked the door, allowing everyone to be served.
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