A tiny restaurant chain in Arizona has shut down its Facebook page amid backlash stemming from a rabidly pro-Trump post – and by “pro-Trump,” we mean that they didn’t just voice their support for him. They went full-bore racist and science-denying, too, which insults a large chunk of Tucson’s population. That includes the University of Arizona’s student body, to which they cater since one of their locations is just off campus. As one of the bluer areas of that deep red state, you can imagine that they weren’t happy with Cup It Up’s blatant politicizing.
The businesspeople responsible for the post seemed to think they were “making a statement.” Despite taking down their Facebook page, the Internet is forever, so there are screenshots of the offending post still floating around. Here’s what they decided it would be a good idea to say:
Funny thing about “celebrity ‘expert’ opinions:” That applies to celebrities who espouse liberal views against Trump. Trump himself is a celebrity but all the fans of his who like crying about how celebrities should keep their opinions to themselves seem to have forgotten that.
Businesses need to seriously consider what they may bring upon themselves for diving into politics – particularly small businesses like Cup It Up. According to Tucson.com, their Facebook rating dropped from 4.9 stars to two in the whole three hours that the post was up, and they admitted that it didn’t occur to them that the response could be so harsh.
Over on Yelp, people are making their voices heard, too. While the backlash there is currently mostly devoid of things like death threats, they’re still getting shredded. In an ironic twist, some of what they’re getting shredded for isn’t going to be helped by less government. Their star-rating is also getting destroyed:
Their chef has resigned, and the partners, Christopher Smith and Jay Warren, have issued an apologetic non-apology for their post. One of the things they said was:
“It’s hate feedback and it’s for one reason only and it’s that we showed our support for Donald Trump. There was nothing that we put in the post that was absolutely wrong and terrible in that we supported our president and our troops.”
In response to threats to burn down their restaurant with them inside, and other responses they believed were hateful, they said:
“These types of comments have no place regardless of anyone’s political beliefs. We assumed there would be some discussion and shares, but never this type of animosity and hostility.”
They obviously don’t understand our current political environment. A bit more understanding on their part might have prevented this from happening, because they probably would have put a little more thought into voicing their political opinions, if they did it at all. Here’s their apology, for what it’s worth (or not worth now):
“Our decision to bring our personal political beliefs into a business forum is regretful, and for this we apologize to all.”
They catered food for several of the University of Arizona’s sports teams, along with the school’s alumni association. Given their campus location, they probably also had a steady stream of students for customers, too. Cup It Up serves as a lesson that you need to weigh what you’re going to say before you say it, particularly when you’re a small business like this. Did they have the right to do it? Absolutely. But they were stupid to do so.
Featured image via screen capture
