‘Red Hen’ Owner Resigns from Lexington Business Group After Clash with Sarah Sanders

Stephanie Wilkinson, owner of The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. Wilkinson mad
AP Photos / Daniel Lin, Jacquelyn Martin

Stephanie Wilkinson, the left-wing owner of the Red Hen restaurant who kicked out Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her guests out on Friday night, has resigned from the Main Street Lexington business group.

“Elizabeth Outland Branner, the president of the organization, accepted Wilkinson’s resignation Tuesday morning,” the local NBC affiliate reported.

“Considering the events of the past weekend, Stephanie felt it best that for the continued success of Main Street Lexington, she should step aside,” Branner wrote in an email.

As Breitbart News reported, Jaike Foley-Schultz, a waiter at the restaurant, posted on Facebook Friday that the owner refused to serve White House press secretary Sanders and her guests, resulting in an online battle between supporters and people who called out the discrimination.

“I just served Sarah huckabee sanders for a total of 2 minutes before my owner kicked her out along with 7 of her other family members…” Foley-Schultz wrote on Facebook.

That post was later edited to read, “I just served Sarah huckabee sanders for a total of 2 minutes before my owner asked her to leave and she complied. Her family left on their own accord, we didn’t actually refuse service or ‘kick her out.’”

“Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so,” Sanders tweeted.

Sanders’ father, former Governor Mike Huckabee, said that Sarah and her husband went home after the incident but the other family members went to another restaurant. According to Huckabee, Wilkinson followed her kicked-out customers to the other establishment with a small crowd and continued to yell at them from outside the building.

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