A woman says she was denied service at a New York Mexican restaurant because of her allegiance to Donald Trump.
Esther Levy told NBC 4 New York she and a friend stopped in Cancun Inn in Sugar Loaf Sunday to get a bite on their way back from a festival in Goshen. Levy, who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat at the time, said the eatery was pretty empty at the time and she and her friend got a table.
The duo tried to order some sangria, she said. Their waitress left, and another waitress came back and told Levy and her friend the staff couldn't serve them and they would have to leave.
"I was totally shocked. I thought it was a joke," Levy said.
Levy and her friend, a retired judge, got up to leave when, she says, the restaurant co-owner started "shouting at me, intimidating me, menacing me."
'He said, 'We don't serve Trump supporters. I want you to get the hell out of my restaurant right now and never come back,'" Levy said. "I was shaking."
The restaurant posted to its Facebook page that it doesn't "discriminate against anyone based on race, religion, gender, sexual preference or political beliefs" and that the pair were asked to leave because they were being "rude to the staff and rowdy due to intoxication."
Co-owner Julio Campos told NBC 4 New York Levy and her friend were extremely rude to the waiting staff beginning shortly after they walked in the door, prompting at least one waitress to tell him they "were going to be trouble." Campos said he wanted the duo to leave "out of respect for the workers," and because he feared if they stayed, the situation would escalate.
He said he noticed the Trump hat but had no problem with it, and denies saying anything about kicking the couple out over politics. Campos said Levy and her friend made offensive comments about Mexicans on the way out.
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Levy disagreed with the restaurant's account, calling the eatery's comments "all lies."
"My friend and I are innocent of all of it," Levy said. "All we did was spend about 10 minutes in the restaurant and we were thrown out."
"I was shocked," she added. "I didn't expect such nastiness -- the sheer discrimination, absolute discrimination."
Levy said she had been a patron of the restaurant for more than 25 years.
The restaurant says it has been getting threatening calls since Levy publicized her story.
Campos' brother, Israel Campos, who opened the restaurant nearly three decades ago, reiterated the establishment doesn't discriminate.
"Are Trump supporters welcome here? Of course they are," he said.
