Chinese Restaurant Closes After Owner Makes Donations To Former KKK Leader

A local Chinese restaurant closes following severe community backlash over the owner’s political contributions.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, O’mei Restaurant shut its doors following multiple weeks of boycotts. The boycotts were over owner Roger Grigsby’s reported donations to former KKK leader David Duke. Local news site Indybay.org first made the public aware of Grigsby’s actions following the events in Charlottesville.

Afterward, several employees at O’mei quit and wrote negative comments on Yelp. This led to further discussions and boycotts, several from the local community. Grigsby had no choice but to close the restaurant due to what he described as “political terrorism.”

Following O’mei’s closure, signs appeared on the windows that blamed events on “slanderous and malicious internet rumors” made about Grigsby. Grigsby told the Mercury News that people were making false claims that he was a white supremacist, neo-Nazi, or KKK member. He claims that his current girlfriend and former wife are both Chinese.

Grigbsy, however, also gave a passionate defense of his contributions to David Duke. He says that Duke is “defending the civil rights of European-Americans” and the media unfairly portrayed him as a “hate caricature.” Grigsby later went on to say that he couldn’t believe that “stupid people” in Santa Cruz believed the so-called rumors that shut down his restaurant.

“I didn’t know the backlash would happen, because I didn’t know there would be that many stupid people in Santa Cruz who would actually believe this stuff. But I guess my beliefs were proved wrong. When I say ‘stupid,’ I mean ignorant.”

It’s unknown at this time if O’Mei Restaurant will ever reopen. Considering Grigsby’s attacks on the local community in his interviews, however, it’s highly doubtful that will be the case.