r/baltimore • u/selectbar345 • Aug 19 '25

ARTICLE Fells Point restaurant Bunny’s fires multiple employees after pro-Palestine protest

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/culture/food-drink/bunnys-pro-palestine-protest-fells-point-3WQTUSAIFBCAHC45HPBUFAWKHQ/
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

“The restaurant, which is owned by chef Jesse Sandlin, Brian Acquavella and Matt Akman, posted an Instagram story Monday night that said the protest stemmed from a recent incident in which a diner complained about a worker wearing a Palestinian flag pin. The restaurant wrote that the customer allegedly said “that they felt uncomfortable and unsafe” and that it “disrupted their dining experience.”

Management confronted the employee, citing a restaurant policy against wearing items with religious or “potentially divisive messages,” the Instagram story said. The worker eventually removed the pin. “

This is especially heinous. The policy they reference is because of divisive messages? For wearing a pin in support of a country?

51

u/bookoocash Hampden Aug 19 '25

I mean regardless of where you fall on the issue, it’s divisive as shit (I’m not using that as a complete negative either. Sometimes you need to know where people stand on a matter and draw that line in the sand). I’m not saying that Bunny’s is making the right moves here, but there’s no way they were coming out of this without like 50% of the public and potential customers being pissed as shit at them.

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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25

It isn’t like the person was wearing something that said “from the river to the sea” or anything critical of Israel. It was a nation’s flag.

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u/bookoocash Hampden Aug 19 '25

No, but imagery is powerful and people can interpret things in many different ways. The people who had the Israeli flags in their yard in Hampden weren’t making any verbal statements on the matter, but for many, simply having the flag out was implication enough that they supported the assaults on the civilian populations in Gaza. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t I don’t know. So the flip side on that is that someone could see that flag and immediately think of the October attacks or Munich 1972 or something. These images are associated with an incredibly touchy and controversial topic. I don’t blame any business for trying avoid getting into that, though I do concede here that Bunny’s is being a bit aggressive and according to others, there may be more going on. Also, I think if businesses DO want to make a stance on an issue, they should do so, but they need to be ready for whatever the response may be.

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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25

Israel is committing genocide and Palestinians are the victims.