As we discussed earlier, Tila Tequila spent the weekend in Washington, where she attended a white-supremacist/alt-right conference in celebration of Donald Trump’s victory. She tweeted this visual evidence, Jake Tapper retweeted the photo, and the New York Times posted the insane details of the convention’s climactic “Heil Victory!” salute. Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant inadvertently hosted a group banquet dinner, which prompted a protest.
Maggiano’s Facebook page describes their mortification — the protest was launched by Tila’s photo — after the Friday banquet. The owners explain how the white supremacist group booked a last-minute reservation under a false name, so the restaurant had no idea what was going on:
The protesters were upset because of a banquet we were hosting for a group called the National Policy Institute (NPI). This was a last minute booking made Friday afternoon, and the reservation was made under a different name, therefore we were not aware that NPI was dining with us or what the group represents. After the event, an attendee sent a tweet in which she made a “Sieg Heil salute” in support of Hitler and white supremacy. This expression of support of Hitler is extremely offensive to us, as our restaurant is home to Teammates and Guests of every race, religion and cultural background.
The restaurant has declared that they will not profit from this banquet, so they’ve arranged to immediately donate $10,000 of their Friday sales to the nearest Anti-Defamation League office. Maggiano’s sincerely apologizes for hosting the event, and although they never mention Tila Tequila by name, the Washington City Paper connects the dots. Here’s the full Facebook post (and to the restaurant’s credit, they still make the most delicious eggplant parmesan in existence).