Utah restaurant server: Patrons wearing 'Trump 2020' hats left me tip with gay slur written on it

A server who works in an Ogden, Utah, restaurant told KSTU-TV that patrons wearing "Trump 2020" hats left him a $5 bill tip with a gay slur written on it.

What are the details?

Ashton Bindrup didn't reveal what restaurant he works for but noted on Facebook that the party in question was an "older couple and their middle-aged son."

Image source: KSTU-TV video screenshot

"They'd asked me for a pen during the meal," he told the station. "They paid with card, but it was all an electric system so there was no receipt … that's why I thought it was odd when they asked for the pen."

Bindrup said that when he got a look at the $5 cash tip the patrons left, the phrase "Get out of America, F**!" was written on it, KSTU said.

Image source: KSTU-TV video screenshot

He told the station he believes the group deliberately wrote the slur on his tip.

"It's shocking. It's not OK," Bindrup told KSTU, adding that "I think if anyone got it, they would think it was hate speech."

Bindrup posted images of the $5 bill to his Facebook page and noted, "Today I experienced targeted hate." The post quickly gained traction online, the station said.

More from KSTU:

In the state of Utah, there are penalties for hate crimes. However, written speech is only considered a punishable offense if there is a threat of violence.

The only other recourse that could be taken involves defacing currency.

According to U.S. Code, anyone who defaces a bill so that it is unfit to be reissued can be fined or face six months in jail. The law states:

"Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both."

Since the bill Bindrup received now contains profanity, it can't be reissued and, arguably, fits the law. Still, he said he's not chasing legalities.

"I wish that they had said it to my face," he noted to the station. "I'm not quick to anger or quick to be offended, but I don't know. You have to think about that kind of hate. You have to wonder, 'How does someone get to that point?'"

Believe it or not...

At one point in his interview with KSTU, Bindrup laughed as he recalled the patrons "actually tipped me really well. It was only a $22 bill, and they gave me a five for it, so it was like a 27% tip."

On Facebook, he noted that "I am both family and friend to many kind Trump supporters. I see you and hear you. I have even experienced and can point out some things I have liked about the Trump Presidency. I love you guys, even if I don't support your candidate."

But Bindrup added to the station that "we have to help people become not so biased. This needs to be a learning opportunity, above all else, because there's hate speech out there, and we can all do our part to say things differently."

Utah waiter says he received tip with hand-written gay sluryoutu.be