White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted on Saturday that the owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va. asked her to leave because she worked for President Trump.
But Sanders’ expulsion has put another Red Hen restaurant—this one in Washington, D.C.—in the crosshairs of Trump supporters—even though it is in no way affiliated with the first.
While the restaurants share a name, they are not part of a chain and they have different owners, Eater reports. While Sanders named the location of the restaurant in her tweet, a later tweet by President Trump did not, only calling out “Red Hen Restaurant,” which could apply to either location and ended up confusing some of his fans.
Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) June 23, 2018
The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018
Huckabee and Trump supporters have flooded the D.C. restaurant’s Facebook and Yelp pages with negative reviews. Those attacks are thanks in part to conservative political activists calling on supporters to post on the page.
Yelp has said that it is trying to remove reviews on both restaurants’ pages, both positive and negative, that appear to be motivated by the news rather than an actual experience at the restaurant.
People have also attacked the D.C. Red Hen on Twitter, where it has tried to defend itself:
Good morning! @PressSec went to the unaffiliated @RedHenLex last night, not to our DC-based restaurant.
— The Red Hen (@RedHenDC) June 23, 2018
Businesses in DC are prohibited from discriminating against people for political affiliation because we are a federal district. We have patrons from both sides of the aisle: https://t.co/IOmNmYqoj5
— The Red Hen (@RedHenDC) June 24, 2018
Good morning! @PressSec went to the unaffiliated @RedHenLex last night, not to our DC-based restaurant.
— The Red Hen (@RedHenDC) June 23, 2018