Donald Trump Protest: Presidential Candidate Blocked From Celebrity Chef Restaurant, Is it Legal? [VIDEO, POLL]
The reaction to Donald Trump's climb to presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for this year's presidential race has been mixed, and those who do not support the outspoken candidate are not hesitating to make sure he knows he isn't welcome in their lives or their businesses.
The latest to request that Trump be nowhere near him or his businesses is celebrity chef and The Chew co-host Michael Symon, who called into CBS Cleveland radio back in June to voice that he does not want Trump to ever eat in his restaurants, and said he will not allow the candidate to do so.
"There's not a chance I'd let him into one of my restaurants," Symon said. "This isn't a Democratic [or] Republican thing, trust me, it's just a 'he creeps me out' thing."
Symon owns seven restaurants in the Cleveland Area, where the Republican National Convention is set to take place later this month, meaning he has banned trump from his Lola Bistro, Lolita and Mabel's BBQ restaurants, as well as his four B Spot Burger joints scattered throughout the city as well.
He's only the latest to ban Trump in some way. Earlier this year the British Government actually debated whether they should ban him from even entering the United Kingdom following petitions from citizens requesting it happened, and several artists have banned him from using their songs at campaign events, including Adele, R.E.M., Aerosmith, Neil Young and The Rolling Stones.
Because of his unlikely rise to Republican candidacy, companies including Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Walgreens have also reacted, dropping their financial support for the Republican National Convention.
However, if Trump intended to sue someone like Symon, he would have a tough legal battle ahead of him according to The Washingtonian, which interviewed George Washington University Law Professor Michael Selmi, who said the law is technically on Symon's side.
"It's a little tricky, but there's no general law that prohibits excluding someone from your business," he said. "There are Public Accomodation laws based on things like race, gender, and national origin. Excluding him because he [Symon] dislikes him would generally be permissible."
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