A teenager wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat appears to have been harassed at a Whataburger in Texas, a video recently posted online shows.
The video, posted by @brxpug on Twitter, shows a man holding the hat—which are routinely worn by supporters of President Donald Trump—and throwing a drink at people who appear to have been wearing it while eating at the fast food restaurant.
The man, who apparently took @brxpug’s friend’s MAGA hat, then throws a drink at the person holding the camera, walks away and says he is going to burn the hat.
“So went out for a 2am snack and my friend (wearing a MAGA hat) had his hat stolen and a drink thrown in his face (and mine, you can see my arms on the left of the video)” @brxpug wrote on Wednesday morning.
https://twitter.com/brxpug/status/1014417257945018368
The video has been viewed on Twitter more than 2 million times.
A local television station in Texas, News 4 SA, spoke with a teenager who claims to have filmed it the encounter.
“I support my president and if you don’t let’s have a conversation about it instead of ripping my hat off. I just think a conversation about politics is more productive for the entire whole rather than taking my hat and yelling subjective words to me,” the teen told the news outlet.
Several conservative personalities online have lashed out against Whataburger and denounced the incident. The Daily Caller, a hyper-conservative website, said harassment of Trump supporters have reached “another level” when posting the video.
The ongoing harassment of Trump supporters by “courageous” liberals reached another level on Tuesday night when a random adult stranger approached two teenagers at a San Antonio, TX @Whataburger to steal a #MAGA hat from one of them, toss his drink on him, then yell at him. pic.twitter.com/q3qXPSAg54
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 5, 2018
Others expressed outrage at the situation.
https://twitter.com/icejoberg/status/1014810762705960960
He was eating at @Whataburger, minding his own business when he was harassed. Absolutely unacceptable. This needs to stop. https://t.co/n1o6oiC3VE
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/MarkDice/status/1014886909573771265
The incident comes as some people have called for “civility” in politics after several members of Trump’s administration have been confronted in public.
Update 1:57pm CT, July 5: Whataburger issued the following statement to the Daily Dot.
“We were shocked to see this video and certainly don’t condone this type of customer behavior in our restaurants. To be clear, no Whataburger employees were involved or witnessed the incident, and we ask that questions be directed to San Antonio PD as we continue supporting their efforts.”
Update 9:10am CT, July 6: A 30-year-old man was arrested in connection to the incident at Whataburger.
Kino Jimenez was arrested and charged with theft, according to KHOU11, a Texas television station. He was also fired from his part-time job at a bar in San Antonio, Texas, after he was recognized as being the person who stole the teenager’s hat, Newsweek reports.
After the incident went viral, Donald Trump Jr. said he would get the teenager a new “Make America Great Again” hat—signed by the president.
If someone can get me this young man’s information I’ll get him a new #maga hat… SIGNED by #potus!!! https://t.co/zHBz4gKpkf
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 5, 2018
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