Washington D.C. restaurant Maggiano's issued an apology Monday for hosting a National Policy Institute banquet last week where former reality show star Tila Tequila joined other alt-rightists in giving a tweeted "Sieg Heil" salute.
Maggiano's, a family-style Italian restaurant, said in its apology in a Facebook post that the banquet was a late booking and that people protesting the banquet forced the restaurant to close to "protect the safety of our teammates and guests," per the Washington City Paper.
The National Policy Institute, described by The Daily Beast as a "race realists" think tank, held a day-long conference in the atrium of the Ronald Reagan Building over the weekend where attendees discussed how the victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election will affect its movement. Afterwards, many of them went to Maggiano's.
Protesters showed up, though, at the banquet where Tequila, the former star of MTV's "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila," tweeted out the controversial photo. The Twitter account with the photo now appears to have been been suspended, but nothing ever disappears on the Internet and others retweeted the pic.
Police were able to force out the protesters trying to confront the group at the restaurant, reported the Washington Post.
"After the event, an attendee sent a tweet in which she made a 'Sieg Heil salute' in support of Hitler and white supremacy," said the Maggiano's apology on Facebook. "This expression of support of Hitler is extremely offensive to us, as our restaurant is home to Teammates and Guests of every race, religion and cultural background."
"We want to sincerely apologize to the community of Friendship Heights for inadvertently hosting this meeting, which resulted in hateful sentiment. We want you to know that at the suggestion of one of our guests, we are donating the profits from our restaurant sales on Friday, $10,000, to the D.C. office of the Anti-Defamation League, which for decades has been working to bring people together in peace and understanding."
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