Police were called to a restaurant in Texas over the weekend over an anti-Trump t-shirt being worn by a customer.
While dining at the First Watch Cafe, Garland resident Andy Ternay had his lunch interrupted when fellow patrons, horrified at his choice of shirt, called the cops and attempted to have him removed from the restaurant. Ternay was not breaking any laws, but evidently Ternay's neighbors were so offended by his shirt that they felt they had no choice but to involve the authorities.
The front of the shirt read: ""FUCK TRUMP AND FUCK YOU FOR VOTING FOR HIM." The back read: "FUCK THE RACIST ALT-RIGHT". "I. Want. This. Shirt." tweeted Mr Mxyzptlk.
"First, we were approached by a manager who let us know that customers were very distressed by my shirt and that children might see it," Ternay told The Daily Beast. "I expressed deep sympathies and let her know that explaining 'grab 'em by the pussy' and golden showers to my daughter was equally unpleasant."
He has a point. But customers were not happy, allegedly "suffering due to my indescribable poor taste," Ternay said. It was Ternay's response to police officers, however, that makes this case so special. An officer approached Ternay in the parking lot, in an exchange ending in Ternay shutting down the whole incident.
"I stop the car and ask the officer if she is there over a t-shirt," Ternay wrote. "She affirms this to be true and asks my name which I respectfully decline to give; she starts in on the shirt—whereupon I cite Cohen v. California, 1971, in which the Supreme Court upheld the right to wear a t-shirt saying: 'FUCK THE DRAFT.' She's like: 'Just leave, okay?'"
The event sparked some feedback on Twitter. "This seems rather mild considering the things that Trump has been quoted as saying..." tweeted Samuel Wynn Warde.
Making this story even more juicy, Ternay's server was black, and subsequently quit his job because of the incident. "You should hear these people asking not to be seated near Muslims," he told Ternay. Ternay explained that since the incident, he has received countless messages from victims of discrimination. "I have gotten heartbreaking messages from African Americans saying they have lost faith in their white neighbors—they are no longer confident their neighbors have their back," he told The Daily Beast. "My shirt was a reassurance they are not alone."
H/T: Daily Beast, Addicting Info
@CalltoActivism/X
@cchaplin59/X
@mmpadellan/X
@IBleedOrange1/X
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social