A restaurant in California cut ties with an employee over posts they made on social media regarding the death of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who was fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
Giuseppe’s Cucina Rustica based in San Luis Obispo County fired the employee over “inappropriate” posts on social media about Kirk’s killing.
The supervisor of the restaurant told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that the employee made these posts on his personal Facebook account. Additionally, the employee has remained unnamed and no specifics were shared regarding the content of the posts.
As soon as Giuseppe’s was made aware of the posts, they took action to terminate the employee, according to the restaurant’s Instagram post from Sept. 12 on the matter.
“These posts were made by the individual acting in their personal capacity and in no way reflect the values, opinions or position of Giuseppe’s Restaurants,” the restaurant said in the statement on Instagram. “We want to make it absolutely clear that we do not condone or support any communications that are disrespectful, inflammatory or that glorify violence.”
Giuseppe’s further noted that this type of behavior does not reflect the company’s core values.
The Italian restaurant was founded in 1988 and currently operates two locations, one in downtown San Luis Obispo and the original location in Pismo Beach. They serve farm-to-fork style and use produce from their own farm.
While the restaurant has now turned off their Instagram comments, according to The Tribune, when the post was initially up, it garnered over 340k likes.
“We are committed to maintaining a workplace culture that upholds the highest standards of professional conduct, both within our organization and in how we represent ourselves to the broader community,” the restaurant stated. “Giuseppe’s Cucina Rustica remains dedicated to serving our customers and community with dignity and respect.”
Despite the comments being disabled on the post, the community chatter continued on the SLO subreddit following this decision to fire the employee.
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Community thoughts on the employee’s termination
The user who initiated the post wrote, “They didn’t disclose what was posted. Firing someone over posts on their personal social media seems crazy unless they were trying to incite violence or something.”
The top comment states, “A lot of people have been losing their jobs for posting their thoughts about Charlie Kirk being killed.”
They also noted that whoever notified the restaurant about the posts could be a San Luis Obispo resident or in the employee’s inner circle as it was posted on the employee’s personal social media account.
“My friend was also fired from her job for her post on charlie,” another Redditor wrote.
Others raised concerns about the freedom of speech and expression of the employee if the posts were made outside of work hours and on their personal accounts.
Other restaurants are taking a similar stance
This comes after a restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio, cut ties with one of the owners after comments he made about Kirk on her personal social media account.
Lucius Q, a barbecue restaurant, posted on Facebook Thursday that owner Aaron Sharpe is no longer with the company after he made comments about Kirk on his personal social media page.
Dining and Cooking