B.C. restaurant manager fired for refusing to serve man in pro-Trump hat

VANCOUVER – A Vancouver restaurant manager has been fired for refusing to serve a customer who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat.

The slogan popularized by U.S. President Donald Trump in his 2016 campaign has been embroidered on bright red baseball caps that have become an emblem of his supporters.

Eva Gates, vice president of operations and human resources for the Sequoia Company of Restaurants, says the capped patron was sitting on the patio at Vancouver's Teahouse in Stanley Park on Tuesday when the floor manager approached him.

She says the manager, identified on the Teahouse's website as Darin Hodge, told the patron he had to take off his hat if he wanted to be served. The man opted to leave the restaurant instead.

Gates says Hodge was fired with cause on Thursday because the incident violated the company's anti-discrimination policy and also because Hodge posted about it on social media.

Hodge could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Shelby Thevenot

Shelby has lived across Canada. She grew up near Winnipeg, Manitoba then obtained her B.F.A in Multidisciplinary Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 2014 she moved to Montreal, Quebec to study French and thrived in the Visual Journalism Graduate Diploma program at Concordia University. Now she works at iNFO News where she strives to get the stories that matter to the Okanagan Valley community.

Member of:

The Professional Writers Association of Canada

Quebec Writers Federation

English Language Arts Network