'Bringing my business elsewhere': Famous restaurant under fire over Trump hat display

10 July

A display of pro-Trump hats outside of a Trump rally location in Detroit, Michigan on June 15, 2024 (Image: Shutterstock)

A famous seafood restaurant in San Francisco, California is now being brigaded with one-star reviews after a customer noticed the restaurant's display of a hat emblazoned with "45-47," which represents President Donald Trump's two terms in the White House.

On Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Swan's Oyster Depot – a local landmark more than a century old – prompted outrage among the community when a Reddit user posted an image of the "45-47" hat while waiting in line earlier this week. The most upvoted comment read: "I hope the ghost of Anthony Bourdain haunts them," in reference to a 2015 episode of Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" in which he visited the restaurant.

"I normally would not care what party someone is for but with all the crazy stuff he is doing lately if you openly support him I am going to start calling you out and bringing my business elsewhere," another user commented. "This s--- has gone too far."

Kevin Sancimino, who is one of the owners of the restaurant, defended the hat as a "gift" from a customer, and downplayed the display by pointing out the hat was on a stack of books that included a collection of speeches by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"Our place is a collection of things that have come in over years," Sancimino told the Chronicle. "We’ve got pictures of Ronald Reagan. He was a customer years ago. One of our treasured possessions is a letter from Margaret Thatcher on the news of Parliament.”

“People can have their different political views, and we can all coexist in the same space,” he added. “I just find it to be a little bit sad that somebody would try to make a pariah out of someone or their business for having an alternative political view. … It seems myopic. … Why does political belief not fall under the realm of inclusivity?”

As of Thursday evening, the Yelp page for Swan's Oyster Depot has "recently received increased public attention," and that the app has "temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events."

Click here to read the Chronicle's full report.

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