San Carlos restaurant owners speak out after viral post says they 'condone racism'
A viral photo surfaced over the weekend accusing the restaurant owners of being racist.
SAN CARLOS, Calif. (KGO) -- A viral photo surfaced over the weekend accusing owners of a popular San Carlos restaurant of being racist.
It all started after a customer eating at Stamp Bar and Grill was seen taunting peaceful demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest Saturday afternoon.
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"The man's behavior was awful," said Sema Tosun, the restaurant owner. "We would never condone any action like that."
The past two days Tosun and her family received dozens of death threats after a Facebook post was made Saturday night accusing them of allowing racist behavior.
According to the post, a man dining in the outdoor patio was "heckling" and "spewing hateful comments" as the protesters walked by. It goes on to say he then "pulled out a monkey and started mocking the crowd."
ABC7 spoke with the restaurant's general manager, who served his table.
"I went to the table and told him to shut up and leave immediately," said Mus Caferoglu.
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Comments flooded Facebook and Yelp accusing Caferoglu of high-fiving the man after he made racist comments.
"That was misconstrued," he said. "It was just my hand gesture and his hand gesture agreeing that he should shut up and leave immediately."
Tosun and her husband Steve have lost half a million dollars amid impacts from COVID-19.
"Pandemic over and now we have this," said Steve Tosun. "We tried to survive... and now I feel like I'm collapsing again."
