A supporter of President Donald Trump who was refused service at a Smoothie King location in Michigan said he and his family have been getting threatening messages.
The incident happened in Ann Arbor when two employees at the shop told Jacob Lindemyer and his wife Erika they had to leave because his hoodie said “Trump 2024 – Take America Back,” Fox 2 reported Wednesday.
Lindemyer said he frequents the shop but when he wore the hoodie, things went sour.
He told Fox:
My kids aren’t in school right now. We’ve kept our kids home. My daughter is getting harassed. Her safety is being threatened. She’s getting death threats. She and I are getting messages saying, ‘You better watch your back. We know where you live.’ And this is like thousands and thousands of messages. We’ve worked so hard to get where we’re at now. I’m entirely different than I used to be. A lot of these people are trying to bring up my past, like things from ten years ago, ‘Look, this is who he is.’ My character has been completely smashed.”
Video footage of the initial encounter shows the couple inside the shop. At one point, Erika told the workers their refusal to serve them was “discrimination” and “illegal.”
Moments later, one of the employees told them, “I don’t care. Like, have a great day. Get out.”
More video footage shows a worker filming the incident. “We’re not serving Trump supporters. You have a great day,” she said. Right Angle News Network reported one of the employees set up a GoFundMe but it was stopped and removed:
Two employees were fired after the incident and one of them, Janiyah Mishelle, told Fox News in a statement:
My political opinions are very complex. I do not stand on behalf of any political party. I merely refused service because of the alleged affiliations the Trump administration has to [pedophiles]. I believe in the United States & want to see our citizens standing up against binary political logic.
In my opinion, in this specific instance, I had the right to refuse service due to discomfort with a customer interaction – just as he had the right to wear the political merchandise. I would like to clarify that my statements were/are NOT on behalf of Smoothie King. I would also like to thank everyone who is currently supporting me through the digital harassment, political re-framing, and job-loss.
Smoothie King also released a statement after the incident, saying the shop’s franchise owner fired the workers and reached out to the customer to apologize several times.
“The local owner is also taking further action and enforcing mandatory training for all employees that outlines our guest experience standards,” the company concluded:
Lindemyer said his family merely wants to feel safe and be able to wear what they choose without being targeted.
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