"A floor manager, Darin Hodge, approached a patio customer and asked him to remove a red "Make America Great Again" hat; when the customer refused, Hodge told him he would not be served and the customer left. The restaurant’s management company, the Sequoia Company, fired Hodge after 18 months, saying his actions did not reflect its stated "philosophy of tolerance," while the restaurant’s general manager, Andy Crimp, confirmed the account. Hodge defended his decision on Facebook, calling the MAGA hat a symbol of racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, misogyny, white supremacy and homophobia and saying he had no regrets. The incident has provoked online protest on the restaurant’s Yelp and Facebook pages (Yelp placed an Active Cleanup alert) and reignited debate about whether businesses or staff can refuse service to patrons wearing politically charged apparel." - Daniela Galarza