Basilico’s: Anti-vax restaurant only wants un-vaccinated customers

A restaurant in Los Angeles that has flouted COVID-19 restrictions since the pandemic took hold of the United States in March 2020 is in the news once again after another defiant declaration. Diners at Basilico’s Pasta E Vino will only be served if they can prove that they are unvaccinated.

 BASILICO’S ANTI-VAX ITALIAN RESTAURANT

The controversial anti-vaccination message is displayed on a sign on the front of the Huntington Beach restaurant. “We have zero tolerance for treasonous, anti-American stupidity. Thank you for pondering,” reads text on the Basilico’s poster.

An employee told the Los Angeles Times that the restaurant is not really verifying patrons’ vaccination status but the message is just one of many in a long line of apoplectic anti-public health messages shared by the restaurant.

Facebook appears to be the preferred platform for espousing these messages and since the anti-vax declaration people have flocked to the page and weighed in with their opinion in the comments. Basilico’s ignored California’s mask mandate before this and was warned by the government, according to The Washington Post.

“…more American counties, cities and businesses doubling down on anti-American lockdown mandates? Well ‘Basilico’s Pasta e Vino’ just tripled down: From day one, never complied, banned masks and now… requiring proof of being un-vaccinated!,” read a post by the restaurant directed at the City of Pasadena.

Detractors of the restaurants pointed out that the establishment received a $58 000 Paycheck Protection Program loan – one of the US’ economic measures to offset the impact of the pandemic – as a sort of ‘gotcha’ moment.

Basilico’s seemingly did not see the irony in this move and declared “PPP? It’s our money, not theirs! Don’t let them tax you, and then use your money to build a war chest, so they can fund programs to advance tyrannical mandates and restrictions against you,” in a Facebook post typed in all capital letters.

The restaurant has received multiple fines for ignoring the COVID-19 restrictions and is also at risk of losing its liquor license.

Basilico’s move may hurt in the end – even in the politically conservative county it is located in, according to Stacy Wood, a marketing professor at North Carolina State University. Anti-vaccine customers can only patronise the establishment every so often and the current tactic runs the risk of alienating people who are ambivalent about vaccine politics.