Restaurant faces backlash after refusing service to customer wearing 'MAGA' hat

A Canadian restaurant is facing backlash after a man wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat was refused service at the establishment.

According to CBC, Darin Hodge, the floor manager of the Teahouse in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, approached the customer and said that he won’t be served until he took the ‘MAGA’ hat off.

The customer declined to do so and left the restaurant.

The manager has since been fired; however, he told Global News that his position hasn’t changed.

“I stand by my decision to ask the patron to remove his hat. The MAGA hat has come to symbolize racism, bigotry, islamaphobia [sic], misogyny, white supremacy, homophobia. As a person with a strong moral backbone, I had to take a stand against this guest’s choice of headwear while in my former place of work,” he said.

In the wake of the incident, the restaurant’s Yelp page has been flooded with negative reviews, with many criticizing the restaurant for firing the manager.

“Disgusting way for restaurant to deal with the manager. Why not discuss the situation with manager rather than firing him,” wrote one Yelp user.

“Given that no one should be wearing a hat of any kind at the dining table I will never frequent this restaurant again,” wrote another commenter. “Firing someone for asking them to take off a hat that is offensive to most Canadians is abominable.”

This controversy comes just days after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, VA because of her role in the Trump administration.

The following day, Sanders said in a tweet: “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.”