Red Hen restaurant controversy
American political incident involving White House staffer
On June 22, 2018, a co-owner of The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then the White House press secretary, to leave. The co-owner later cited Sanders' role in what they called the "inhumane and unethical" Trump administration in which Sanders had "publicly defended the president's cruelest policies." The Red Hen planned to cease operations at the end of December 2023 and rebrand as a new concept.
Precipitating incident
The Red Hen was a "tiny farm-to-table restaurant" with 26 seats almost 200 miles (320 km) from Washington, D.C., in Lexington, Virginia. At about 8:00 pm on Friday, June 22, 2018, The Red Hen's chef telephoned the restaurant's co-owner Stephanie Wilkinson to report that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary had entered the restaurant to dine with a group of about eight people. Wilkinson told The Washington Post that, after conferring with her employees, she told Sanders that the restaurant upholds standards "such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation" and asked Sanders to leave, which Sanders did. Wilkinson related that the other people at Sanders' table had been served appetizers and were invited to stay, but they also left, Wilkinson saying their appetizers were on the house. In the morning press briefing of Monday, June 25, Sanders said that she and her husband went home.
Political and journalistic responses
Restaurant co-owner
A June 25 Washington Post article quoted restaurant co-owner Stephanie Wilkinson as saying she was "not a huge fan of confrontation" and wanted her business to thrive but that this felt like "the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals." Wilkinson explained that she believed Sanders—significantly, a public official—served in an "inhumane and unethical" administration and "publicly defended the president's cruelest policies."
Trump administration
After a server made a social media post that caused wider media attention, at 10:53am the next day (Saturday, June 23), Sanders tweeted, "Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA, to leave because I work for @POTUS, and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me." In the press briefing of Monday, June 25, Sanders spoke out against "hate and vandalism" against the restaurant and also said that "calls for harassment and push for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable." On about August 2, in the context of her accusation that the press verbally assaults the president and members of his administration, Sanders said that as far as she knew, she is "the first press secretary in the history of the United States that's required Secret Service protection."
At 7:41am on Monday, June 25, President Donald Trump tweeted that the restaurant should focus more on cleaning its "filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders," adding that "I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!" (Virginia health department records show the restaurant "easily passed its most recent inspections.")
After comments made by Congresswoman Maxine Waters calling for her supporters to confront Trump Cabinet officials in public spaces like restaurants, President Trump responded on Twitter by saying, "Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement.
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