{"id":2575503,"date":"2026-03-03T08:39:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/smoothie-king-fires-employees-who-refused-to-serve-trump-supporters\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T08:43:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:43:31","slug":"smoothie-king-fires-employees-who-refused-to-serve-trump-supporters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/smoothie-king-fires-employees-who-refused-to-serve-trump-supporters\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoothie King fires employees who refused to serve Trump supporters"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsmoothie-king-fires-employees-who-refused-to-serve-trump-supporters%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2575503&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A washington Examiner report describes an incident at a Michigan Smoothie King <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mcdonalds-ceo-warns-layoffs-for-corporate-staff-are-coming\/\" title=\"McDonald\u2019s CEO Warns Layoffs for Corporate Staff Are Coming\">franchised location<\/a> in which two employees refused to serve a couple wearing pro-Trump hoodies. A video of the encounter posted by Erika Lindemyer on TikTok shows the employees arguing that the couple\u2019s political merchandise triggered discrimination, wiht one employee saying she didn\u2019t feel comfortable serving them as of the hoodie and the other claiming that Trump discriminates against them. After the video went viral, smoothie King terminated the two staff members, stating a commitment to non-discrimination and that the franchise owner and corporate will follow up with apologies and action. The franchise owner apologized to the guest and announced mandatory retraining for all employees at the location to reinforce guest-experience standards. The article notes that the incident prompted online commentary with mixed opinions on whether the employees were within their rights to refuse service.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Smoothie King fires employees who refused to serve couple with Trump merchandise<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2520653\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Smoothie King fired two employees who refused service to a couple over a pro-<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4\">Trump<\/a> hoodie.<\/p>\n<p>Erika Lindemyer posted a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@enl1986\/video\/7612415590560435470\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@enl1986\/video\/7612415590560435470\">video<\/a> of the interaction on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tiktok\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"432\">TikTok<\/a>, showing the black women employees claiming that President Donald Trump discriminates against them, so they wouldn&rsquo;t serve the couple. After the video went viral, Smoothie King quickly terminated two employees involved in the spat, saying in a statement that it&rsquo;s dedicated to ensuring their establishments are places &ldquo;free of discrimination of any kind, where every guest and team member is treated with care and respect.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4474196\/fedex-promises-tariff-refunds-trump-administration-returns-money\/\">FedEx promises tariff refunds if administration gives back money<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4468976\/supreme-court-trump-tariff-slap-down-could-limit-end-economic-damage\/\">Supreme Court&rsquo;s Trump tariffs slap-down could limit, if not end, economic damage<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4472550\/artificial-intelligence-only-hope-avoid-austerity-shrinking-us-population\/\">AI is our only hope to avoid austerity with a shrinking US population &mdash; unless Bernie Sanders gets his way<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;Following an investigation into an incident involving a guest who was refused service at a franchised location in Michigan yesterday, the franchise owner has taken immediate action and the two employees involved are no longer with the business. Both the franchise owner and Smoothie King corporate have reached out to the guest several times to apologize and will continue to follow up,&rdquo; the statement read.<\/p>\n<p>It added that the local owner of the franchised location is &ldquo;taking further action and enforcing mandatory retraining for all employees that outlines our guest experience standards.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sports-network-podcast-credited-with-leading-to-arrest-in-high-profile-murder-case\/\" title=\"Sports Network Podcast Credited With Leading to Arrest in High Profile Murder Case\">video showing part<\/a> of the interaction, Lindemyer repeated one employee&rsquo;s earlier line that she doesn&rsquo;t &ldquo;feel comfortable serving you&rdquo; due to the husband&rsquo;s hoodie. She argued that this amounted to &ldquo;discrimination&rdquo; and was &ldquo;illegal,&rdquo; but the employees were unperturbed.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I said Trump discriminates [against] us,&rdquo; the second employee answered.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;OK, well that has nothing to do with us getting a smoothie!&rdquo; Lindemyer fired back.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;OK, well that&rsquo;s who you support though, that&rsquo;s who you love,&rdquo; the first employee responded.<\/p>\n<p>The second employee claimed they had a &ldquo;right to refuse service&rdquo; and stood by their decision. Lindemyer threatened to call the police while leaving, though the ensuing interaction wasn&rsquo;t caught on camera.<\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath, one of the employees who <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >refused service posted<\/a> a video saying she might&rsquo;ve &ldquo;accidentally started a race war,&rdquo; then went for a new attack angle, complaining that she was a minor, so she wanted the video removed.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am a minor, and she recorded me without my permission. The people in the comments are all white, and they&rsquo;re all being hella racist, guys, please help me get this video taken down,&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4477739\/trump-war-powers-congress-iran\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4477739\">TRUMP FACES FIRST DOMESTIC TEST ON IRAN CONFLICT WITH SENATE WAR POWERS VOTE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The comments on the video were evenly split between supporters and critics. Many voiced sympathy with the couple, and several said they called the company to complain. Others claimed the employees were within their rights to refuse service.<\/p>\n<p>Many supporters claimed hypocrisy, writing that if a conservative employee refused service over the wearing of liberal merchandise, there would be an uproar from Democrats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Smoothie King terminated two franchise workers after they refused to serve a couple because the husband wore a pro-Trump hoodie. The incident, filmed by Erika Lindemyer on TikTok, shows two Black employees arguing that President Trump discriminates against them and that they wouldn\u2019t serve the couple. After the clip went viral, the franchise owner and Smoothie King stated they investigated and the two employees are no longer with the location. They apologized to the guest and said they would continue to follow up, with the local owner enforcing retraining for staff on guest-experience standards. In the video, one employee said she didn\u2019t feel comfortable serving the couple due to the hoodie, while the other claimed Trump discriminates against them. The guest and some viewers called the move discriminatory, while others argued the workers were within their rights. Additional posts from the employees included claims of being a minor and requests to remove the video; comments online were mixed in support and criticism. <\/p>\n<p>55-character headline option:<br \/>\nSmoothie King fires staff over Trump hoodie<\/p>\n<p>(Estimated length: 43 characters.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2575504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Trump-merch-christians-scaled-e1772543660563.webp?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[50410,5102,74947,5894,13897],"class_list":["post-2575503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-controversy-2","tag-discrimination","tag-employment-law-2","tag-politics","tag-workplace"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Trump-merch-christians-scaled-e1772543660563.webp?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2575503"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2575507,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575503\/revisions\/2575507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2575504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2575503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2575503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2575503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}