Salem's Epilogue Kitchen receives slew of hate following vaccine confrontation video

Salem's Epilogue Kitchen received a slew of online harassment over the weekend after a video circulated online of author Naomi Wolf confronting the restaurant staff about checking customers' vaccine cards.

Jonathan Jones, Epilogue Kitchen owner, has had a COVID-19 vaccine card check requirement to dine inside the restaurant since the vaccines became publicly available in December 2020. Customers who weren't fully vaccinated or who declined to show their cards can dine outdoors or get takeout.

Related: Facebook group Salem Eats Safely prioritizes COVID-19 protocols while dining

While Jones said he had received hate and harassment in the past for having the requirement, he said described this latest wave of response as "unhinged" and cited Wolf as the cause.

"This is way more extreme, vicious, violent — and there's a lot more glee," Jones said. "(These online attackers) are enjoying the thought that they are harming someone, and most of them are fully unashamed and calling with real phone numbers and their names, saying atrocious things."

Wolf did not respond to the Statesman Journal's voicemail messages and email seeking comment.

Wolf is the author of the feminist book “The Beauty Myth,” and in recent years has gained notoriety for sharing unfounded claims about the COVID-19 vaccine, including being banned from Twitter for promoting anti-vax disinformation in 2021. Wolf does not have any information online about where she is from.

In the video taken by Wolf, she confronts one of Epilogue Kitchen's employees at the door. Clips of it have been posted on Twitter from various accounts.

Video contents

In one clip posted on social media, an Epilogue employee explains to Wolf about the range of restaurants with vaccination mandates, while Wolf responds that she was "sharing that (she) doesn't believe in discrimination anywhere for any reason."

The employee, who is Black, commented on the irony of Wolf's discrimination statement.

The two continue to go back and forth, with Wolf insisting it is discrimination while the employee concluded the exchange by asking Wolf to "give the diners inside their privacy" and leave.

Wolf's phone camera pivots from the employee to show the rest of the restaurant's front, including their "no place for hate" poster and other signage

A second clip shows Jones interacting with Wolf, with her beginning it by asking Jones to repeat what he had said prior to recording.

"You are never allowed in this space again, you have officially been 86'ed," Jones says to her on the video.

Wolf asks for the meaning, and Jones explains it means she is not allowed to be on the premises. As Wolf asks why she is 86'ed, Jones states it is because of how she interacted with his employee. She responds that she "spoke very courteously" with his staff and he cuts her explanation off to reiterate she has been banned and in the future will be reported for trespassing.

Jones is seen walking to the front of his restaurant and sitting on one of the benches, as Wolf asks if he would like to "talk about (what conspired) constructively." He declines, using an expletive and says he will sit in the front of the restaurant "until she is gone."

Wolf replies that she is going to have dinner next door, where she had a previous reservation. Jones gets up from the bench and says he will let that restaurant owner know what had transpired.

Reviews attack policy, employees

Jones updated social media followers through the weekend about the harassment he received following the video interaction. He posted photos of phone numbers and names affiliated, videos of the phone interactions, rude messages from other Instagram users, reservations made for the restaurant under fake and profane names and screenshots of new negative reviews posted on Google, Yelp and Facebook.

Recordings of the phone calls included callers insulting Jones' race and restaurant, profanities toward Jones' support of the Black Live Matter movement, threatening violence to the restaurant and staff. Social media messages sent to the restaurant's page include threats of violence to the business and further insulting Jones' political affiliations.

Jones said he had to take down the restaurant's reviews section on their Facebook page because the rating was going down with individuals leaving reviews attacking Jones' vaccine card check decision and making racist statements. Before the review section was taken down, the rating had gone down about 0.3 stars, Jones stated in an Instagram story. The reviews section was taken down at about 10 a.m. on July 4.

Attacks and fake reviews flooded Epilogue's Yelp and Google business pages all weekend as well. While Jones was able to successfully connect with Yelp to suspend new reviews from going up over the weekend, he said he will try to reach Google after the holiday weekend.

The Statesman counted that, as of 5 p.m. July 4, the restaurant had received more than 150 new one-star reviews on the Google business page in connection with the video's circulation. The evening of July 6, Jones posted on Epilogue Kitchen's Instagram story that the negative reviews on Google posted over the weekend were taken down.

Six individual reviews explicitly refer to Wolf's video and make statements of disdain for "being discriminated against" for their writing a review. Many primarily mention being incensed enough to write a review because of the vaccine card check requirement, while others added in microaggressions referring to the Black staff, the restaurant's support of the Black Lives Matter movement and Jones' appearance and demeanor. As of 1:30 p.m. July 5, some of the Google reviews have been taken down.

An individual account by the name of Sir Dunning Kruger III also uploaded 19 photos to the restaurant's Google photo gallery, with many of the shots showing maggots, bugs and hair in food. The food and environment the photos are in do not resemble the restaurant's interior, dishware or food on the menu. One photo is just a piece of feces on a plate. Two of the photos are screenshots from Wolf's videos, one of Jones and the other of his employee. As of 1:30 p.m. July 5, the photos were not present in the Google photos gallery.

Further action

Jones said despite the hate he's received, he did not report this to Salem Police Department. He added that even if he did, the people harassing his business are likely "across state lines, using the internet" and would most likely require a response at the federal level.

"I will be reporting this as a bias crime to the Oregon Department of Justice," Jones said.

He declined to comment on whether he was building a civil rights case except to say he is getting a lawyer and "working on it."

Epilogue has been attacked and defaced several times since they have been open, and were defaced in racist and fascist graffiti in early June. The year before, the blocks around the restaurant were also defaced with hate group stickers.

Related: Epilogue Kitchen defaced with racist, fascist graffiti, attempted break-in

"Our city, the community we are a part of, has really rallied around us and made it a lot easier to deal with (these situations)," Jones said. "It's not easy, but it's different knowing someone has your back."

Jones and the restaurant staff are in the midst of a public fundraising campaign to help move the restaurant from 130 High Street SE to 508 State St., updating the 130 High Street space into a women's sports bar and more. As of 2 p.m. July 5, the campaign has raised $33,245 of its $50,000 goal since it started on June 20.

Related: Epilogue Kitchen making big moves: new location, women sports bar, community building

To keep up with Epilogue Kitchen, you can follow their Facebook, Instagram @epiloguekitchen, and website, epilogue-kitchen.square.site.

Em Chan covers food and dining at the Statesman Journal. You can reach her at echan@statesmanjournal.com, follow her on Twitter @catchuptoemily or see what she's eating on Instagram @sikfanmei.ah.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Salem Epilogue Kitchen gets backlash after vaccine confrontation video