Pro-Trump restaurant owners speak out after facing backlash
Business was forced to close after backlash to a pro-Trump Facebook post.
The owners of the Cup It Up restaurant in Tucson, Ariz., say they’re hoping to open “sometime soon” after closing their doors earlier this month following a "nasty" backlash over a pro-POTUS Facebook post.
Chris Smith and Jay Warren claim they received so much backlash after they shared their pro-Trump opinions that employees chose to quit, leading them to “close [Cup It Up’s] doors indefinitely” on Oct. 9.
“We expected some shares, some discussion, but as it kept coming in, after about three hours of the pure nastiness, we decided to pull it,” co-owner Smith said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
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Now, however, Smith and Warren confirmed that they plan to reopen Cup It Up in the near future, and they’re clearing up why they chose to post their Facebook message in the first place.
“The National Anthem [issue] really struck home with me, as a Navy veteran,” explained Smith. “My take on the national anthem is a patriotic one. I served in the Persian Gulf,” said Smith, who explained that the anthem “took on a whole new meaning” after hearing it sung during a Super Bowl while he was stationed overseas.
“Fast-forward to today, now I turn on the TV and the gentlemen are kneeling,” he added. “I know I’m not diminishing their cause, but there’s just no justification to disrespect our national anthem and the men and women who served in the armed forces.”
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Smith also said that, if the tables were turned and he saw a post critical of his beliefs, he would “keep that to myself” rather than share his opinions on social media.
Neither Smith nor Warren revealed an exact date for the reopening of Cup It Up.
Smith and Warren took to Facebook in early October to share a post in which they shared a list of the things they “support 100 percent” as well as the things they “do NOT support.”
Included among the things they supported were “our president,” “always standing for the national anthem,” “the U.S. Armed Forces” and “repealing Obama Care,” as seen in their since-deleted post. Conversely, things they didn’t support included “those that don’t respect our president,” “kneeling during the national anthem,” “Antifa,” “political correctness” and “global warming,” among others.