The restaurant where a man accosting another customer because he was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat on Independence Day explained their side of the story.
The Hill Country Barbecue Market in downtown Washington, D.C., said in a tweet on Friday that they asked a guest to leave due to his “hostile behavior towards another guest in the restaurant.”
In return, we ask our guests to be respectful and polite to each other. We continue to ensure our restaurants are a safe place for all of our employees and our guests.
— Hill Country DC (@HillCountryWDC) July 5, 2019
On his personal Twitter account, T.J. Helmstetter, a former Democratic National Committee staffer, said he was kicked out of Hill Country because he confronted a “Nazi.” Helmstetter said he told this person “we don’t tolerate racism in this city,” adding, “His girlfriend then physically jabs fingers into my chest and starts threatening me. Management tells me to leave, not woman who assaulted me.”
When asked to explain who the “Nazi” was, Helmstetter said the individual was a man wearing wearing a “MAGA” hat.
In an email to the Washington Post, Leah Morgan, chief of staff for Hill Country Hospitality, said their managers worked quickly to defuse the situation.
“Last night our management team overheard a very loud verbal altercation in our bar area,” Morgan wrote. “When two of our managers approached the area, they observed one of our guests being hostile towards another group of guests. Our team was simply trying to prevent a physical altercation as they are trained to do and asked the guest yelling at the group to leave the restaurant immediately. There was nothing more to it from our team’s perspective and the incident was handled appropriately to ensure guest safety
