A California pizza restaurant that apologized for a worker's refusal to serve police now faces online backlash over the firing of the employee.
The San Francisco Police Officers Association posted to Twitter on Jan. 29 to say police visiting Pizza Squared were denied food and told "they were not welcome in the restaurant." The union called the actions "shameful and hateful."
Pizza Squared responded on Twitter with an apology, saying the worker involved was a trainee on his third day at the restaurant.
"We expressly told him we didn't share his views & that he was out of line," the restaurant said. "He was fired at the end of the day."
The police union said on Twitter that it appreciated the apology. But responses on Twitter to the Pizza Squared post called the restaurant owners "cowards" and "bootlickers" for their actions.
"Disappointing how you handled this. I love pizza but not if it's made by boot lickers," read one comment.
"So you're OK with armed violent thugs in your establishment? No thanks then," read another post.
"Just chiming in to say that I won't ever be eating at your restaurant if this is how you treat your employees. Enjoy your cop-only clientele," another comment read.
The dispute comes amid national protests over the release of a video showing Memphis police beating Tyre Nichols, 29, after a traffic stop on Jan. 7. He died three days later.
Five former officers have been charged with murder in the case, National Public Radio reported. Three emergency medical technicians have been fired and two more police officers have been disciplined.
The San Francisco police union and other police unions in California and Hawaii posted a Jan. 27 joint statement to Twitter calling the death of Tyre Nichols "horrific."
"The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hand of five cowardly former Memphis police officers is repugnant and the complete antithesis of how honorable law enforcement professionals conduct themselves every day," the statement read.
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