A Connecticut restaurant that shares the same name as the Virginia Red Hen eatery that kicked out Sarah Huckabee Sanders has received ‘threatening messages’.
The Red Hen in Old Saybrook has received dozens of angry phone messages and negative reviews from confused Republicans across the country since Saturday.
It comes after the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, asked Sanders to leave their restaurant Friday, citing the concerns of her gay employees on Friday evening.
The Red Hen in Old Saybrook (pictured) has received dozens of angry phone messages, negative reviews and ‘threatening messages’ from confused Republicans across the country since Saturday
Sander has previously defended Trump’s anti-gay policies such as his plans to bar transgender people from serving in the military.
Since then, Red Hen restaurants across the country, and even as far as Canada, have been receiving threats and bad reviews in an attempt to damage their businesses.
Shelley Deproto, owner of the Connecticut Red Hen, said that even when she tried to explain that her restaurant was in no way affiliated with the one in Virginia, the abuse continued.
Her first threat came early Saturday when she picked up the phone and an angry voice told her: ‘You’re done, and we’re coming to get you.’
‘It was ominous,’ she told the Hartford Courant. ‘The rage — there was such rage.’
Fake reviews caused Deproto’s restaurant’s Yelp rating to plunge from 4.5 out of 5 to a 2. Users claimed the restaurant was ‘non-American’ and sold old meat. Yelp agreed to remove some of the posts, according to Deproto.
Users even made fake reservations on the application Seat Me. The backlog prevented real patrons from making reservations.
he Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, asked Sanders to leave their restaurant Friday, citing the concerns of her gay employees on Friday evening (people leave messages of solidarity and flowers at the door)
Sanders was booted out of the restaurant where she was eating with seven family members
‘This has gone beyond freedom of speech. This is causing real damage,’ Deproto said.
Some supporters of the restaurant fought back on Facebook to defend Deproto from detractors.
‘Sorry this is happening to you. Your food is fantastic. We had the best server the other night,’ one diner wrote.
‘Lexington, Virginia, according to my old geography class, is NOT Old Saybrook, CT.,’ noted another supporter.
Deproto maintains she and her staff ‘don’t talk politics’ at her restaurant.
‘We like to spread love. We’re here to serve. We want people to relax and enjoy a meal,’ she said.
The Red Hen in Swedesboro, New Jersey, also saw their social media pages bombarded with negative comments after the White House Press Secretary was asked to leave a restaurant with the same name.
Republicans posted dozens of fake reviews on the Old Saybrook restaurant over the weekend
The New Jersey restaurant staff were preparing for a private event when The Red Hen’s phone began to ring off the hook with angry messages and its social media pages were inundated with scathing reviews.
‘It was off the chart. Then the hostess comes to me and says, ‘people are calling and yelling and swearing,” Operating Manager Elizabeth Pope said to Nj.com.
The restaurant responded to more than 100 angry calls within six hours on Saturday, causing them to post a clarifying statement on Facebook.
‘THE RED HEN IN SWEDESBORO, NEW JERSEY IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE RED HEN IN VIRGINIA. We are an independent, family owned business who happens to share the same name,’ the restaurant posted on Facebook.
‘Kindly check your facts before you erroneously defame an innocent business on Facebook in an attempt to destroy their business where they welcome all, irrespective of their race, religion, views or opinions,’ the post added.
Nonetheless the post erupted into a political debate in the comments, garnering more than 1,800 reactions.
‘People have no idea. They’ve dropped our rating from a 4.8 stars to three-point-something…I am concerned with what it can do in the long-term,’ Pope said on the incident.
Outraged users wrote biting reviews vowing to never eat at the restaurant following the Sanders scandal.
‘I will not dine here after what went down with Sarah Sanders…’ one user wrote.
The Red Hen in Swedesboro, New Jersey has also been mercilessly trolled online by users who mistook the eatery for the restaurant with the same name in Lexington, Virginia
The Red Hen clarified that the eatery was not the Virginia restaurant that refused to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday evening
Upset users mistook the New Jersey location with the same name for the Virginia restaurant and left scathing reviews on the Red Hen’s Facebook page
One user said: ‘How dare you. Asking someone to leave because of who they work for? Is this Russia?’
Another infuriated user shared this image demanding a boycott of the wrong restaurant
Meanwhile, an unaffiliated restaurant with the same name in Washington D.C., has also been caught in the crossfire and is distancing itself from the scandal.
The DC Red Hen posted on Twitter Saturday to say that Sanders was at an unaffiliated restaurant.
Still, one Twitter user demanded the restaurant make a statement condemning Sanders to which The Red Hen DC responded: ‘You have the wrong restaurant… Businesses in DC are prohibited from discriminating against people for political affiliation because we are a federal district.’
A diner in Ontario province, Canada, has even felt the affects.
The Olde Red Hen in Collingwood, has seen its Facebook page peppered with hateful comments and poor reviews from Americans unhappy about how Sanders was treated.
‘Hope you go out of business you liberal trash,’ posted Thomas Collins of Maryland.
Similar trolling took place at a Washington DC restaurant also named The Red Hen
The eatery clapped back at a user saying it cannot discriminate people for political affiliation
Olde Red Hen owner Diane Smith said she has sought to respond to each individually in order to point out the case of mistaken identity – and to invite them for breakfast at the 1950s-style diner.
Some of the comments were later withdrawn.
The incident unfolded on Friday night when Sanders arrived at the farm-to-table Lexington, Virginia restaurant with seven family members.
The restaurant staff alerted owner Stephanie Wilkinson who took a staff, some of whom are gay, vote before asking Sanders to leave. After the staff voted to have the press secretary leave, Wilkinson approached her table.
‘I’m the owner. I’d like you to come out to the patio with me for a word,’ she said.
The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia where Sanders was refused service pictured
‘I was babbling a little, but I got my point across in a polite and direct fashion. I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation,’ she added.
‘I said, ‘I’d like to ask you to leave,” to which Sanders replied ‘That’s fine. I’ll go.’
Sanders took to Twitter Saturday morning to slam Wilkinson saying: ‘Last night I was told by the owner of The 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,’ she added.
Since the incident the Yelp page for correct The Red Hen location has been inundated with one and five star reviews from people on both sides of the political spectrum, bringing the restaurant’s score down to 2.5 stars.