Restaurant manager fired for refusing service to man in MAGA hat

A restaurant manager who refused service to a Trump supporter in a “Make America Great Again” hat earlier this week has been fired.

Darin Hodge, who worked as a floor manager at a popular Vancouver, British Columbia, tourist restaurant, refused service to a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat on Tuesday, Global News reports. 

According to reports, Hodge asked the man to remove the hat and said he wouldn’t be served unless it was removed. The unnamed Trump supporter refused to remove the hat, and Hodge refused to serve him.

The restaurant owner, The Sequoia Company, said Hodge was later fired for not following the company’s “philosophy of tolerance.” 

Hodge had worked at the restaurant, the Teahouse in Stanley Park, for 18 months. {mosads} 

In a statement to Global News, Hodge said he would do it again. 

“I stand by my decision to ask the patron to remove his hat. The MAGA hat has come to symbolize racism, bigotry, islamaphobia [sic], misogyny, white supremacy, homophobia. As a person with a strong moral backbone, I had to take a stand against this guest’s choice of headwear while in my former place of work,” he said.

Following the incident, a Yelp review page for the Teahouse in Stanley Park was flooded with comments from Trump supporters who praised the firing and others who cheered on Hodge.

The incident comes after The Red Hen restaurant in Virginia refused to serve White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week, resulting in a debate over civility toward public figures.