The manager of a Vancouver, Canada restaurant who ordered a customer to remove his “Make America Great Again” hat or not receive service was fired for not following the restaurant’s “philosophy of tolerance.”
Stanley Park Teahouse manager Darin Hodge stood by his decision, telling Global News that he felt the hat signified “racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, misogyny, white supremacy, (and) 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. Absolutely no regrets,” said Hodge in a written statement.
“A gentleman came in wearing a hat that was a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, and our manager went up to the gentleman and asked him to take off his hat, that he wouldn’t serve him with that hat on,” said Eva Gates, whose employer, the Sequoya Group, owns the restaurant. “And the gentleman said that he had a right to wear that hat. And [the manager] refused to serve him if he wouldn’t take off his hat, and so the customer had to leave.”
Although the company considers Hodge a “good person with a big heart and a right to his personal beliefs,” nevertheless they fired him for “violating the company’s philosophy of tolerance.”
Hodge had been working at the restaurant for around 18 months. (RELATED: Fox News Panel, Others Condemn Restaurant For Kicking Sarah Sanders Out)