Several Fox News hosts on Wednesday praised a Florida restaurant owner’s decision to ban supporters of President Joe Biden from eating at her establishment, saying it’s “understandable” and that it could “lead to a lot more business for her.”
With conservative anger towards the Biden administration reaching a fever pitch following the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the owner of Debary Diner posted a sign outside her business telling Biden voters not to enter following the Kabul terror attack.
“If you voted for and continue to support and stand behind the worthless, inept and corrupt administration currently inhabiting the White House that is complicit in the death of our servicemen and women in Afghanistan, please take your business elsewhere,” reads the sign from owner Angie Ugarte. “God bless America and God bless our soldiers.”
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Discussing Ugarte’s customer ban on Wednesday’s broadcast of midday panel show Outnumbered, co-host Emily Compagno said the owner “means it” before turning to Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, who expressed the segment’s only reservations about Ugarte’s decision.
“She has a right to do what she wants. It’s her business, but I would say this: I did not like it when the Trump administration employees were chased out of restaurants or berated while they were eating,” she said. “She says that she has images of veterans all over her walls and a lot of veterans who dine in there, so I would hope that some of those supporters of the president come in they might learn something from some of the veterans who are sitting next to them.”
Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth, who has been a loud and frequent critic of so-called liberal “cancel culture,” immediately applauded Ugarte’s ban while appearing to urge viewers to pour money into the restaurant.
“She is expressing a sentiment and speaking for a lot of people,” the Fox star declared. “I’m sure you guys have similar instances—my inbox is full of people saying, ‘Where can I give money and where can I go? What can I do?’”
After saying there’s a “lot of dismay” and people “don’t know where to turn,” Hegseth—an Afghanistan War veteran who privately lobbied former President Donald Trump to pardon accused war criminals—added that Ugarte’s sign is like a “guttural scream that I love my country” and “don’t respect” those who supposedly don’t love America.
“So customers can make a choice, and I actually think this could lead to a lot more business for her than those that turn away,” he concluded.
“That’s a great point,” Compagno exclaimed before turning to former White House press secretary turned Fox News personality Kayleigh McEnany.
McEnany, another obsessive “cancel culture” critic, responded that she “totally agreed” with Hegseth, adding that the “rage of this woman and many others” is “understandable.”
Of course, even the most casual media observer is aware how Fox News has devoted countless segments to raging against the perception that a “woke” liberal mob is “canceling” conservative values, airing oft-misleading outrage segments about everything from Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head to even the AP style guide supposedly falling victim to cancel culture. The network’s digital site even has an entire section devoted to the topic.
And when it comes to hypocrisy on this specific subject, Hegseth’s is most overt. In 2018, after Virginia restaurant Red Hen threw out Sarah Huckabee Sanders, citing her role as “Trump’s mouthpiece,” the Fox News host lamented on-air: “What does it say about the left that they stand in solidarity with a business that kicks out a paying customer just because of their political position?”
