A family-owned restaurant in Mississippi is facing backlash after a 48-hour online tirade that included a viral video revealing their open hostility to the LGBTQ+ community.
“We don’t do the trans or the lesbians or gays,” said Nettie Yeager, who along with her husband Darwell own’s Darwell’s Happiness Cafe in Long Beach, Mississippi.
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The original post, since deleted, went viral after they uploaded it to Facebook Tuesday afternoon.
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In the video, the duo offered a last-minute discount to “real” couples like them: “Husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, guy and girl couple, the real kind of couple,” Darwell Yeager said from the restaurant’s kitchen.
“When you come in for the next hour and half and you are a couple — can produce a child couple — we’ll give you something free. How do you like that, folks?” Darwell asked.
“Cause we don’t do the trans or the lesbians or gays. I’m sorry, but that’s down the street,” Nettie Yeager said in the same video, wearing short shorts and a pair of giant sunglasses.
The negative reaction online was swift and inspired two days of doubling down by the owners.
Darwell Yeager said people were against him for being an outspoken conservative and that he wouldn’t be “bullied” by the left.
“I don’t run after every dollar that’s thrown at me if it comes from A source that I would prefer not to mingle with. I just would rather not do business with the source…. I’m not a prostitute to my industry,” he said in one post.
In another, the co-owner said he personally makes sure there are “No woke employees at Darwell’s.”
“Don’t you wish you had a bad guy where you work to keep them out of your place of employment,” he asked his followers.
Nettie Yeager called on lesbians to remember what the Bible says about same-sex relationships in a post no longer visible to the public. She also posted a pic of her backside in boy-shorts while wearing a shirt that read “f*ck off” and “Kiss My Straight Married 50yr. Old Ass…”
In an overnight post on Thursday, Darwell Yeager called on Trump supporters to show up in MAGA gear with American flags for a 10% discount through Sunday, March 30. That offer was no longer visible hours later, the Clarion Ledger reports.
As the days-long diatribe ground on, the list of former customers and denunciations piled up.
“Welp one of my favorite restaurants is now ruined,” read one post.
“Like tell me the truth: if Elton John or RuPaul or Pete Buttigieg walked into your restaurant, would you turn down their money because they’re gay?” another user posted. “Homophobia, transphobia, and racism are stupid.”
“Darwell’s Cafe, Long Beach stands to learn a really hard lesson,” said Gulf Coast resident Jarrid Hill. “When you publicly condemn a portion of your customer base, you lose more than just their business—you lose the respect and support of the entire community.”
That could include a national audience, as well.
Darwell’s has been featured on the Food Network multiple times, including Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, twice.
Brandon Necaise, a firefighter who created the popular Kajun Kick seasonings brand, announced his products “will no longer be available at Darwells Cafe in Long Beach.”
Gulfport resident Matthew Bounds, author of New York Times bestselling cookbooks, shared he’s on the lookout for Mississippi Gulf Coast small businesses that “are happy to serve people like me” since “Darwell’s doesn’t want my dirty gay money.”
By late Wednesday, the psychic toll of the owners’ massive and unforced error looked like it was having an effect, at least on the boy-shorts wearing, “Kiss My Straight Married 50yr. Old Ass…” Nettie Yeager, who wanly posted, “Guess No Specials anymore… no kids eat free day , no singles day. no girlfriend day no buddy day ect…. people are to hateful if they don’t understand something….”
The post earned a dismal ratio of nine shares and 482 “laughing” emojis.
By Thursday morning, an apparently exhausted Nettie finally relented, in a post admitting the owners messed up.
“I would like to apologize to all my friends. If I wrote or said something that offended you… I’m not perfect… I say thing people don’t understand, misread , misunderstood, jokes maybe I shouldn’t say, get upset and say something I should have thought twice before saying.. I’m not perfect and I get my feelings hurt too. Not always right. But I’m human too.. I’m truly Sorry if you got offended or misunderstood something not meant to hurt anyone…..” she posted.
It was technically an apology — and likely too late.
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