Sarah Sanders Says She Was Told To Leave Virginia Restaurant
WASHINGTON (CBS News) -- White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was told to leave a Lexington, Virginia, restaurant Friday night, she said on Twitter Saturday morning. Sanders said the owner of the Red Hen in the Shenandoah Valley asked her to leave because she works for President Trump.
"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. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so," Sanders tweeted Saturday morning.
The Red Hen, located roughly 200 miles outside Washington, D.C., is a farm-to-table, American fare restaurant. CBS News has reached out to the restaurant. The restaurant's owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, explained to the Washington Post why she turned Sanders and her family out of the restaurant.
"I'm not a huge fan of confrontation," Wilkinson told the Post. "I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals."
Lexington is a small Virginia town that's home to the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and Washington and Lee University.
People took to Yelp to add their thoughts -- many of them negative -- about the restaurant and its apparent refusal to serve Sanders.
"WOW. Just WOW. This restaurant discriminates if it doesn't agree with your political views," one Yelp reviewer wrote Saturday.
"You have joined a long list of people that open its rude mouth and loose. Shame on you to insult that women nationally. Now its your turn. By the way your food stinks," another reviewer wrote Saturday.
Apparently, social media users were mistaking a D.C. restaurant also called the Red Hen, with the Virginia restaurant. The unaffiliated D.C. restaurant issued this statement on Twitter:
