“Starting today, another new state mask mandate is in effect,” explained Jimmy Kimmel on his show Wednesday night. “In New York and a number of cities, you have to show proof of vaccination to get into bars or restaurants—and that led an angry group of protesters in Queens to have a sit-in at the Cheesecake Factory.”
Yes, six people were arrested after a large group of people staged a “sit-in” at the Cheesecake Factory in New York’s Queens Center Mall, rushing the host stand, refusing to show proof of vaccination, and sitting down at tables while chanting. The NYPD soon arrived and arrested six of the approximately 30 rowdy protesters.
Video from the incident even shows one anti-vax protester screaming at a Cheesecake Factory bartender who refused to serve them, “The Nazis were just following orders.” Another member of the anti-vax group proudly claimed, “We are rebels. We must remember the fact that we are rebels.”
Kimmel, meanwhile, threw to a video posted by one of the protesters who told their viewers, “We’re going to shut down Cheesecake Factory. Shut it down.”
“Let me tell you something, lady: You will never shut down the Cheesecake Factory. This is not an ordinary restaurant. They don’t mess around. Their menu is 500 pages long, OK? You think you can out-hustle a company that offers crispy crab wontons and cheeseburger spring rolls? I don’t think so. That factory will be cranking out cheesecake until long after you and I are dead… It may even be the reason you and I are dead.”
He then added, “I know we call them ‘anti-vaxxers,’ but I get the sense that there are other issues at play there as well.”
On Wednesday, New York reported 12,944 new coronavirus cases—including 5,084 in New York City alone, representing the biggest one-day increase in cases since January.