Dispute Between Restaurant, Trump Supporters Spills Onto Social Media

A woman recently claimed she was a “target of viciousness” at a local restaurant — and all because of a baseball cap.

Esther Levy said she and a companion were kicked out of the Cancun Inn in Sugar Loaf because she was wearing the hat supporting presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.

“They’re claiming we were rude and that we didn’t like the napkins. It’s all baloney, and they’re going to get hit with a big lawsuit. He’s not going to know what hit him,” she said.

The Cancun Inn, a longtime restaurant in the artsy hamlet of Sugar Loaf, started getting profanity-laced phone calls after reporting that it asked Levy and her companion to leave after being rowdy and rude to its staff.

Israel Campos, a well-respected restaurateur who in the past has performed as a magician with entertainers like Frank Sinatra and Paul Anka, said his family has always treated their patrons with the “utmost respect.”

After word of the encounter surfaced, the Facebook page for restaurant was bombarded criticism and racist posts.

It’s no wonder the issue resonated with so many people. Approximately 95% of American citizens wear t-shirts, including those supporting presidential candidates, and plenty more wear baseball caps and other items that may have politically-charged messages on them, too.

In a message posted on its Facebook page, the restaurant thanked friends, family and supporters for their support and “uplifting messages and positive phone calls” following the incident.

“Your support has shined like a beacon of light through a harrowing storm of animosity and aggression,” the message read.

Meanwhile, Levy has worried about her reputation, both in public and with the police.

“[The police] called me back and said they were told I had been calling the restaurant all night about Trump. It’s all hogwash. Here, I’m now maligned with the police. I can’t take it,” she said.

Levy reported that she has spoken with an attorney and intends to sue on the basis of “slander, defamation of character and emotional duress.”

Campos’s son reached out to the couple via a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page, asking that the patrons involved call him so he can get their side of the incident.

“Some, perhaps, forget that we are in fact one human race. Yes; we come from different cultures but we all inhabit this pale blue dot we call home,” the post added.