Customer Allegedly Kicked Out Of Restaurant For Not Being Vaccinated, Compares It To Segregation

A customer was kicked out of a Brooklyn, New York, restaurant for allegedly not being vaccinated, comparing the city’s mandate and enforcement to “segregation” in a video circulating on social media.

The incident unfolded at Juliana’s Pizza when a group of customers was approached by a staff member and told to leave after they allegedly did not show proof of vaccination.

“So you’re going to enforce segregation if we just told you that we’re religiously exempt?” the customer asks the staff member. The staffer alleged the customer told the restaurant he had his vaccination card, a claim the customer refutes.

“Everybody in here is okay with that? Everybody in here okay with setting segregation in society?” the customer asks other patrons, some of which are trying to ignore him.

“Is this the America you want to live in?” the customer asks, to which another customer responds “yup!”

One customer is seen flipping the supposed unvaccinated customer off.

“No, f**k you, you’re not American. You need to get the f**k out of here,” the customer tells the patron who flipped him off. “This is America, and in America, everybody can eat!”

“You need to wake up!” he continued.

The staffer then tells the customer he could be fined for breaking the city’s mandate, with the customer telling him it’s a fear tactic used by the city to enforce mandates.

The patron then repeatedly insists the business cannot discriminate against him for supposedly being religiously exempt  before the video ends.

Juliana’s responded to the video in a tweet, saying they take health precautions “seriously.”

“We take the health and safety of our customers seriously,” the restaurant tweeted Wednesday. “We also face steep fines if we violate City Hall’s order. We are permitted to and do accomodate unvaccinated individuals for outdoor, socially distanced dining & takeout. We appreciate your understanding & support.”

We take the health and safety of our customers seriously. We also face steep fines if we violate City Hall’s order. We are permitted to and do accommodate unvaccinated individuals for outdoor, socially distanced dining & takeout. We appreciate your understanding & support. https://t.co/5qWN6zIxBU

— Juliana’s Pizza (@julianaspizza) September 15, 2021

Juliana’s website features an advisory informing customers they must show “proof of vaccination status” and notes that “regrettably, the City has not provided any exemptions to the mandate except for reasonable accommodations which at this time include only the opportunity for take-away or outdoor dining.”(RELATED: Vaccine Mandate Protests Explode Across New York City, With Some Chanting ‘F*ck Joe Biden’)

Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in August that New Yorkers must show proof of vaccination to enter certain indoor facilities such as restaurants.

The city has not laid out specific guidelines for what to do in cases when a customer has a religious exemption. Current guidance says “only customers who are unable to show proof of vaccination due to their own disability are entitled to a reasonable accommodation” under the guidance.

Employees are entitled to “reasonable accommodations” for needs related to “disabilities, pregnancies, religious beliefs, or status as a victim of domestic violence, stalking, or sex offenses.”

Employees must show documentation proving they need an accommodation for religious beliefs.

The mandate, however, has raised concerns that there will be a disproportionate impact communities of color, according to city data. Only 37% of black city residents are fully vaccinated while 43% have received at least one dose. Approximately 50% of Hispanic New Yorkers are fully vaccinated.

Several restaurants and small businesses have sued the city challenging the vaccine mandate, claiming that “faced with arbitrary, irrational, unscientific, and unlawful vaccine mandates,” they would take a hit to their “business, life savings, and livelihood.”

The plaintiffs argue that restaurants and other indoor establishments affected by the mandate are no more dangerous than other venues.

The Daily Caller has reached out to Juliana’s for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

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