Indiana Pizza Place Forced to Close Doors After Refusing to Cater Gay Wedding

[steve2470]

(original headline, it's TMZ fwiw)

http://www.tmz.com/2015/04/01/memories-pizza-closes-indiana-deny-service-gay-wedding/ (I rechecked the url, this should work)

Memories Pizza -- the first Indiana business to declare it would refuse LGBT business -- got blasted on the Internet and by phone, but the owner says there's been a huge misunderstanding ... sorta.

Kevin O’Connor tells TMZ he's had to temporarily close his business after he told a reporter he would refuse to cater a gay wedding under Indiana's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. O'Connor says he was immediately flooded by threatening phone calls, and social media postings.

O'Connor wants to clear up one thing: He says he would never deny service to gay people in his restaurant. However, due to his religious beliefs, he does not believe in gay marriage ... and that's why he wouldn't service one.

Meanwhile, he says the threats have been serious enough that he's closing his pizza joint ... at least until the dust settles.

[nichomachus]

1. It's amazing how they always claim death threats from gays

What horseshit. But all these bigots want to play the victim card. Just like the bigots who supported Prop 8 wanted their names to be kept secret because of "death threats" from gays.

I can't believe they're not laughed off the stage.

[yeoman6987]

9. I don't think death threats but Internet users are not happy

Check out Yelp and Facebook page. I think he is full of it anyway. Why didn't he explain himself in the original interview. His views have not evolved like the rest of the Democratic politicians at all. The Republicans have very few that have evolved into accepting gay marriage. That is a problem for them. Perhaps talking with the President or Hillary about what turned them to support gay marriage would be helpful. In a sane World that would happen. Unfortunately the Republicans are going to have to be pulled into 2015.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

26. I bet the threats are to the livelihood of his business, not himself.

[diabeticman]

2. This sounds like some sort of set up for the Republicans. I can see this owner crying at the RNC

convention.


going out of business after one day?

[steve2470]

5. owner says according to story he will reopen "when dust settles", some verbiage to that effect nt

[Chipper Chat]

24. olives to olives

crust to crust

[AwakeAtLast]

30. HAHAHA! Duzy!

[Chipper Chat]

52. Even better:

Raspberries to Raspberries
Bust to Bust

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

38. Great one!

[calimary]

53. Rimshot!

[onecent]

58. lol

[Historic NY]

39. Well they're going to need a new website & domain name

http://www.memoriespizza.com/

[madamvlb]

41. Now that's a good one!

[marym625]

45. Had to tweet that one

[LiberalElite]

47. OMG !

[Oilwellian]

51. ROFL...That is so epic n/t

[Chipper Chat]

28. He will be a guest at the pub convention

(a la Joe the Plumber)

[Paper Roses]

3. What goes around comes around. Glad to hear that this shop has closed.

Maybe there will be some rethinking while they sit home and still have to pay the costs incurred in doing business. Heat, lights, insurance, rent, etc.

Maybe if they go to church and pray, someone will come and save their bigoted backsides.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. I read through nine pages on Yelp

Not a single post was threatening. Not a single one.

He's a liar.

And a stupid business man.

[steve2470]

6. he probably had a lucid moment and realized closing for a while was the best option

I bet he is lying about the death threats. Nasty phone calls ? Oh yea, I can see those with no problem. Probably more than a few fake pizza orders and of course he got slammed badly and deservedly on Yelp.

eta: If he has a smart moment, he'll close up shop for good and go dig ditches or something.

[GoCubsGo]

42. It might not be a complete lie.

He might be getting threatening phone calls. And, if he is, they're not coming from the people he thinks are making them. I wouldn't put it past some teabagger nutjobs to try to stir up shit this way, while pretending to be angry gays or liberals.

[vankuria]

25. Very dumb!

He didn't really need to say anything since I doubt anyone would request their wedding be catered by a pizza parlor and since he plans on serving gay people anyways at his restaurant what was his point in shooting off his big mouth?

He's lost business not only from the gay community but anyone who's against this law.

[D_Master81]

44. lucky for him

I live nearby and the town this business is in is probably 3000 people, so in a small town community he's not going to "lose" much business based on these comments. Many of the locals believe the same way, they were even interviewing people on the local news coming out to show support

[Lancero]

64. According to some reviews, Yelp has been deleting quite a few posts.

Yelps content guidelines and ToS prohibit threats, and given how 'popular' that business has become it wouldn't surprise me if Yelp is keeping a very close watch on just what gets posted.

[JustAnotherGen]

69. There was a 404 page yesterday

On the images section of Memories page. Some of them? Oh my! There were some beautiful beefcake photos posted.

[winstars]

65. "Death Threats" is their new toy. Rudy, Darren Wilson, all of 'em claim this when it heats up...

Its all BS, some fucking focus group told them to always claim to get death threats whenever you need to hide something or to generally shut down any discussion of what ever the issue at hand might be.

[creeksneakers2]

73. The shop owner said that he wasn't threatened personally

He said he heard about threats on the Internet but that's it. I think the threats were made up by right wingers,except there was one lady who asked if anybody wanted to march down there with her and burn the shop down. She probably thought she was being funny but she wasn't. She's being investigated by law enforcement now.

Here's from an interview of the owner:

GLENN: Are you getting death threats?

KEVIN: I haven’t seen any. I’ve heard. But I haven’t seen. And to be honest with you, I really got off the social internet here for the last day or two.

http://www.glennbeck.com/2015/04/02/gay-activists-bully-business-that-did-nothing-now-theyve-shut-their-doors/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=04022015%20Glenn%20Beck%20Daily%20FINAL&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_term=Glenn%20Beck

[JustAnotherGen]

74. Ahh - can't go to that link

It's Glenn Beck.

One woman joking about burning down the place a death threat does not make (that's arson) - and well -

Considering right wingers are always popping off towards what they gonna do to us 'non Americans' - it's obvious they can give but they sure as shit can't take a little harmless fun.

ETA - if that had been a gay business owner in the town the State and Local authorities would not have lifted a finger to investigate anyone for threatening to burn down their pizza shop. See the double standard that only applies to 'Christian Republicans'.

[napkinz]

7. how about a new franchise name ... Pizza Hate!

nt

[uppityperson]

8. In restaurant is ok but delivery to a wedding is not? Oh, well then. Righto. Peachie. Uh. huh.

[MADem]

10. That link is bad--it goes to a picture of Charlie Sheen that says LOSING - 404. nt

[uppityperson]

12. Looks like the last part of the link is missing. Here you go, full link

http://www.tmz.com/2015/04/01/memories-pizza-closes-indiana-deny-service-gay-wedding/?adid=TMZ_Search_Results

[MADem]

17. Thanks! How long before "Memories" is just an annoying, homophobic memory, I wonder? nt

[steve2470]

14. spoke too soon, I guess I left off a word nt

[Man from Pickens]

11. Pizza at a wedding?

Who does that?

[uppityperson]

13. Here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026447030

[KamaAina]

15. So THAT'S why my hot 12-inch with extra sausage never showed up!

https://www.facebook.com/MemoriesPizza/photos/a.275868055918387.1073741827.275857415919451/275867922585067/?type=1

[marym625]

49. You would think that supporters would be liking the page

Fewer than 800 likes

So I guess they have little support

[Daemonaquila]

16. Ho-Lee-Sh*t, that was fast!!!!

I don't think the closure will be temporary. I think they're never going to live down the "threats" (a/k/a nasty media-site comments, nasty Yelp and other site reviews, mocking emails and phone messages, total lack of customers except a few Chick-Fil-A fans trying to make a point...).

[Skittles]

18. these bigots need to know

it's not just gay folk they are upsetting - it's all non-bigots - we don't care to see this kind of bullshit, and we will take action

[frylock]

19. bet he would cater someone's second or third marriage without a second thought

[elias49]

20. I'm glad to see this!

Hope a lot of others go down that same road.

[avebury]

21. As a consumer, I would like to know which businesses

will refuse service to any group (even if it is for only one aspect of their business). That way the people can determine which businesses they want to patronize. It is a two way street between businesses and customers. Just as a company will try to claim a right to deny service to a group, customers have an equal right who they choose to patronize. Actions have consequences and a business has no right to cry fowl if they find out that their bigotry negatively impacts their bottom line profits.

[Runningdawg]

22. I am not LGBT

but law or no law, there is no need for nasty signs. Just hang a cross or fish on your door and I will gladly stay far, far away.

[gvstn]

54. If you watch the news report

They do hang a variety of crosses and have a sign describing how they pray every morning before opening the shop and feel free to ask them to pray for you if you have a particular need. Very fundy.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/memories-pizza-indiana-anti-gay-law

[DefenseLawyer]

23. I'm not buying it.

He's gotten lots of bad publicity and I'm sure he's been called names on the Internet, but I doubt he's been directly threatened in any real way. This feeds right into the "liberal bullies" fantasy narrative of the right wing.

[angryvet]

27. Find some gays who

would cater their wedding with Pizza and I'll believe the whole thing wasn't just contrived to point out the man's bigotry.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

29. time to drive ALL teaParTY assholes out of business, liberals can take over and pay

decent wages, make healthier food, etc

[mountain grammy]

31. Idiotic businessman. No threats, lots of lies.

[misterhighwasted]

32. Meet the Teabillies 2015/16 "Joe The Plumber"

Fox will interview him.
And the RW voter division will amp up.

[DebbieCDC]

33. This place had one star on Yelp before the owner proclaimed his anti gay marriage bias

I think this was an idea this "family owned business" cooked up thinking to get rethuglican sympathy/publicity and thus business. Now that this guy's crappy pizza is the laughingstock of the interwebs (some of the comments on Yelp are hysterical) he's whining about death threats.

[Helen Borg]

34. Nah, he did not mean it...

So, what if a married gay couple came to the restaurant and asked for pizza?

[FreeState]

35. Their website just got updated...because they forgot to renew it...

http://www.memoriespizza.com

[steve2470]

36. lol too funny nt

[csziggy]

57. The 800 number on there is to the Gay Hot Line!

[Ms. Toad]

59. I think you're looking at an ad.

No 800 number on the page that loads for me.

[csziggy]

60. They edited it - too much chance of a lawsuit or something

Originally, there was a picture of an obscene (or attractive, depending on your point of view), some text and the 800 number at the top.

Here - the Wayback Machine took a snapshot!

http://web.archive.org/web/20150401184801/http://memoriespizza.com/

But the number at the top is not the one that I saw and googled.

[Ms. Toad]

61. That was fast. It usually takes longer than a day to capture. n/t

[csziggy]

62. They probably suspected the original would be removed fast! n/t

[Ms. Toad]

63. I'm pretty sure it's an automated crawler. n/t

[nikto]

37. I would never kick a fundamentalist Christian in the face

I just demand the right to kick a fundamentalist Christian in the face whenever I want.


So what's the problem?

[Geronimoe]

40. Some priests are pedophilies

Just wondering if he is also refusing to serve pizza to Roman Catholic priests? You know, protect the children.

[cstanleytech]

43. Lets see, yelp shows only 2 reviews prior to 2015 since 2012...I am willing to bet the real reason

they are closing is that their pizza sucks and rather than admit that they were going under because of that they are blaming the "threats".

[MrModerate]

46. Let's be clear: threats of violence are NEVER acceptable . . .

That having been said, I certainly hope your business fails entirely, Mr. O'Connor.

[Cal Carpenter]

48. You wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you got it.

Assholes.

Forced to?

Puh-leeeeze.

[Fearless]

50. Clearly that'll make it ALL better.

Not.

[backscatter712]

55. Closing the doors... to clear time to go on the right-wing talk circuit.

Mark my words, the O'Connor douchebags are going to be on FAUX News. They'll be on Hannity, O'Reilly. They'll be on Rush, on Michael Savage, on Bryan Fischer's show, they'll make an appearance on Gordon Klingenschmitt's show. They'll be talking with Glenn Beck on The Blaze.

Mark my words, these bigoted shitstains will be laughing all the way to the bank.

[libdem4life]

56. I'm wondering if maybe the unthinkable could happen...maybe they are rethinking their bigotry,

especially in the light of being from a small town, seeing it from a national perspective and the other events. Definitely a Teachable Moment for many.

[truebluegreen]

66. How are they doing with their gofundme page

and was that the plan all along?

[romanic]

67. Good riddance

Misunderstanding or not, as a business owner you shouldn't compromise your potential customer base with religious or personal beliefs.

[Cha]

68. Mahalo Steve

[Sparhawk60]

70. And This is Why I Support the Law

And this is why I support the law. I don't want to give my money to bigots. The law gives them enough rope to hang them selfs with and I look forward to more bigots mouthing off and losing business.

Not only is the owner a bigot, but he is stupid too. Catering pizzas to weddings is such a small market, he could have keep his mouth and went years (if ever) before he was faced with the "moral dilemma" of catering a gay wedding.

Back when I ran my own business, I would serve every one with a smile.....even republicans.

[brooklynite]

71. My YELP review...

"Just a quick question. I'm heterosexual, but when I order pizza for MY wedding, will I need to prove I'm not already divorced and/or living in sin? I wouldn't want to offend anyone's religious sensibilities."

[eppur_se_muova]

72. "We reserve the right to refuse to serve anyone" ... Good news! You won't be serving anyone !

Maybe not ever again !

[stevenleser]

75. Rec'ed because I wish it were true. Unfortunately, what I suspect has happened is...

... they made close to 7 figures in their gofundme account and to keep donations flooding in, they are claiming "teh gays" shut them down.

Meanwhile they are laughing all the way to the bank.

I can't stand that they are getting rich from their homophobia.

[B Calm]

76. Any proof that there were really threats?