A black conservative political analyst was ordered Saturday to leave a Miami eatery, reportedly because he expressed different political views.
Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell was told to leave North Miami’s Paradis Books and Bread by an owner.
“‘I’m an owner,’ she said,” Caldwell told host Rachel Campos-Duffy in a Sunday broadcast of “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
“I don’t feel comfortable,” the female owner continued, adding, “you have to leave.”
The establishment later defended their action in an Instagram story, saying the words and behavior of Caldwell and his neighbors made other patrons, as well as Paradis staff, uncomfortable. We told them that our views don’t align and that the language they were using was unwelcome in our space, the restaurant’s statement added.
“Racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia and other forms of harm and/or oppression will not be tolerated within our space, and we will intervene with care if and when these forms of harm occur,” reads the Paradis Instagram page.
Campos-Duffy questioned how Florida establishments could differentiate service based on political beliefs.
“I can’t believe what just happened,” Caldwell said in a Saturday afternoon Twitter post. “I met up with friends for breakfast at Paradis Books and Bread in North Miami & while we were having discussions about politics we were told by the owner that we were not welcomed there because we aren’t politically aligned. Outrageous.”
Caldwell said he was asked by his new neighbors if he was a conservative, to which he responded he was. The Fox analyst added he was the author of a book and interacted with congressional members the previous week about reducing violence against marginalized communities.
“This was so problematic to this lady that she told me that I needed to get out of her establishment,” Caldwell said with passion. “If this was not the Jim Crow South, I couldn’t tell how much of a difference.”
Caldwell noted that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said discrimination is not allowed in Florida and the Fox analyst hopes DeSantis will look closely at what happened to him.
“This lady stared me down the entire time that I was in a restaurant. There’s a target on the backs of people who happen to be Black, who happen to be conservative, and it needs to come to an end,” Caldwell concluded.
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