Jersey barista denies service to man wearing MAGA hat to honor Charlie Kirk

A New York City café lived up to its name when a barista allegedly denied the son of a 9/11 victim service the morning of the memorial over his decision to wear an accessory in honor of Charlie Kirk.

Considerable coverage has gone into efforts to out and shame as many of the vile trolls on social media as possible who found themselves reveling in the assassination of the young father and husband. Amid the callous keyboard commentators and celebrants, an employee at Café Grumpy’s location in Manhattan’s financial district got more personal as she allegedly called a man “disgusting” and denied him service over a red Make America Great Again hat.

Making his annual sojourn from Hazlet, New Jersey, to the World Trade Center, 31-year-old Anthony Pullis was on his way to honor the victims of the September 11 terror attack on the 24th anniversary, including his father, Edward Pullis.

First reported by Asbury Park Press, the decision to wear a MAGA hat drew contempt from behind the counter when Pullis and his friend were said to have been told “No service” by the barista at the café that was clearly serving  other customers.

“We were like, all right, this is ridiculous,” he recounted to Fox News Digital in an interview. While his friend urged them to go elsewhere, Pullis explained, “I felt a fire inside of me.”

The young man explained how he had opted to wear the political hat as a show of support following the assassination of Kirk the day before, “I thought it would be appropriate, and I could honor him in that way.”

Pullis recounted that he returned with uniform-wearing, retired Long Island firefighter Tommy Smith, whose FDNY firefighter father was among those tragically lost on 9/11, who then demanded the two be served.

The drinks were made, but it was said that the barista would not explain why she’d denied service earlier to a customer also wearing an image of his deceased father pinned to his shirt on the morning of September 11, blocks away from Ground Zero.

“I genuinely wanted to know why,” he said as he further alleged that when he’d paid for the $14 order with a $20 bill and told the barista to keep the change, she’d pushed the money back and said, “You’re disgusting.”

Explaining that disciplinary action had been implemented, Café Grumpy co-founder Caroline Bell expressed to the Asbury Park Press how she was “horrified” to learn of the treatment of a customer and that a memo was sent out to employees across their businesses locations that said in part, “You may not always agree with or feel comfortable about a customer’s appearance, clothing, tattoos, hairstyle or personal beliefs.”

“Those factors are not grounds for refusing service,” read the memo.

Pullis went on to add, “This should have never happened. But out of all the days, 9/11 should be the last day … I had a picture of my dad pinned to my shirt. We were literally blocks from the World Trade Center site.”

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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