An Arizona restaurant was forced to close its doors last week after a viral social media posting garnered tons of negative reaction.
According to Vice News, the owners of Cup it Up American Grill in Tucson, Christopher Smith and Jay Warren, posted to Facebook a list of things they support and things they oppose. Things they said they support included: President Donald Trump and standing for the national anthem. Meanwhile, they said they oppose things like Antifa and kneeling for the national anthem.
After posting their list, the duo wrote: "If you like this post, please share it with 5 friends we look forward to your next visit! If you disagree with this post, please share it with 100 friends and we won't be expecting you any time soon! God Bless the United States of America!"
The post went insanely viral and garnered hate from people across the country, including one person who said they wanted to burn the restaurant to the ground with the owners inside, according to Tucson.com. They deleted the post just three hours after they posted it because of the outrage.
Vice detailed the additional backlash:
The restaurant was receiving so many angry phone calls, "several" employees decided they'd rather quit than deal with them. Julian Alarcon, the chef and a partner in the restaurant, also quit—and was reportedly meeting with an attorney to separate himself from the backlash.
The owners apologized for bringing politics into a "business forum," but said the only reason the post garnered so much outrage is because it supported Trump.
"Our decision to bring our personal political beliefs into a business forum is regretful, and for this we apologize to all," the owners said in a statement, according to Tucson.com.
"It’s hate feedback and it’s for one reason only and it’s that we showed our support for Donald Trump. There was nothing that we put in the post that was absolutely wrong and terrible in that we supported our president and our troops," they added.
They also explained they "never ever fathomed" the response it would garner. "We assumed there would be some discussion and shares, but never this type of animosity and hostility," they said.
The restaurant's Yelp ratings tanked and people from across the country voiced their outrage over the post. Because of it, the owners decided to close their doors Oct. 9.
According to KGUN-TV, a sign outside the establishment said:
Dear Loyal fans and Patrons of Cup it Up American Grill,We have made a decision to close our doors indefinitely as of today, Monday, October 9, 2017. The safety of our employees, and our families is of great concern and is our #1 priority at this time. We would also like to extend a special thanks to our Military and First responders. Thank you all and God Bless."
