Updated 4:15 p.m.
If someone told you that reality star Tila Tequila would give the Heil Hitler salute at a Friendship Heights station Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant, would you believe them? Or would you think such a scene could only happen in some kind of sick fever dream. Well, see below. It happened Friday night.
Maybe you remember Tequila from her show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. Maybe you don’t. Let us catch you up. Tequila has since authored an article titled, “Why I Sympathize with Hitler: Part I.” She’s also unapologetically tweeted:
I just recruited some Hitler Youth people for the #AltRight
The protestors Tequila mentions were related to her visit to D.C. this weekend where she participated in a National Policy Institute conference, as reported by The Daily Beast. Members of the group are known to be white-nationalists.
Before Saturday’s conference held at the Ronald Reagan Building, some attendees headed to Maggiano’s, which hosted a private banquet dinner for the group Friday night. Protesters showed up in droves the next day, even causing the restaurant to close.
Maggiano’s, a family-style Italian restaurant with three local locations, issued an apology today on Facebook. It reads:
On Friday night, Maggiano’s in Friendship Heights was the inadvertent site of a protest that caused us to close our restaurant to protect the safety of our Teammates and Guests.
The protesters were upset because of a banquet we were hosting for a group called the National Policy Institute (NPI). This was a last minute booking made Friday afternoon, and the reservation was made under a different name, therefore we were not aware that NPI was dining with us or what the group represents. After the event, an attendee sent a tweet in which she made a “Sieg Heil salute” in support of Hitler and white supremacy. This expression of support of Hitler is extremely offensive to us, as our restaurant is home to Teammates and Guests of every race, religion and cultural background.
We want to sincerely apologize to the community of Friendship Heights for inadvertently hosting this meeting, which resulted in hateful sentiment. We want you to know that at the suggestion of one of our Guests, we are donating the profits from our restaurant sales on Friday, $10,000, to the DC office of the Anti-Defamation League, which for decades has been working to bring people together in peace and understanding.
The above was the second apology attempt for Maggiano’s Little Italy. Its initial post, which has since been deleted, said “we were the inadvertent site of a protest that disrupted our restaurant.” Later in the post, it cited other events the restaurant has hosted. “We hosted Malia Obama’s high school graduation party, a community breakfast meeting for Donald Trump in Chicago, and a private dinner for Bernie Sanders in Philadelphia.” As if neo-Nazis are somehow as benign as Bernie bros.
The post, authored by a managing parter named Jennifer concludes: “We are open to the public and serve delicious food to guests who come from all walks of life. The only party we favor is the one which serves lasagna with marinara sauce and a good red wine.”
Thanks to tipster “Lexie_Gruber” for screen-grabbing the initial post.