California restaurant owner flat-out refuses to serve customers wearing MAGA hats

A San Mateo, California, restaurant owner and chef tweeted that he would not permit customers to wear "Make America Great Again" hats inside his establishment, likening the caps to Ku Klux Klan hoods and Nazi swastikas.

The owner almost immediately deleted the controversial tweet, but the internet has a very long memory.

What are the details?

J. Kenji López-Alt, who runs Wursthall Restaurant and Bierhaus in San Mateo, tweeted the news Sunday.

In a since-deleted tweet, the chef wrote, "It hasn't happened yet, but if you come to my restaurant wearing a MAGA cap, you aren't getting served, same as if you come in wearing a swastika, white hood, or any other symbol of intolerance and hate."

Image source: WTVD-TV video screenshot

The chef also noted, "MAGA hats are like white hoods except stupider because you can see exactly who is wearing them."

He added, "If you're comfortable sitting next to a MAGA wearer I'm probably not interested in serving you either."

A day after the initial tweet, López-Alt wrote, "I didn't say maga hats are racist. I didn't even say the people wearing them are racist. I said MAGA hats represent support of a racist and racist ideas. Wearing one doesn't necessarily make you racist but it sure associates you with them."

What else?

López-Alt is a father — as well as a self-described atheist and feminist — as well as an award-winning cookbook author.

According to WTVD-TV, López-Alt's tweet gained attention before it was deleted, with people agreeing with the chef, as well as users speaking out against his apparent discrimination.

Even though López-Alt apparently deleted the tweet, it didn't stop social media users on Twitter from continuing to talk about it even up until Thursday.

One user wrote, "Mr Kenji I will be at your restaurant Saturday with my #Maga hat and @realDonaldTrump hoodie. Also I will be have a Freesom [sic] meeting there too! Just an FYI."

Another added, "Have you ever spoken to a person wearing a MAGA hat to see what they believe? Judging people's appearances is the essence of intolerance. And please, comparing MAGA to a Swastika is truley [sic] downplaying the horrors of Nazi Germany. Are you a holocaust denier?"

The chef has yet to issue any follow-up remarks in connection with his original statement at the time of this writing.