Fox News analyst urges DeSantis to ‘look closely’ at Miami bookstore that booted him over politics

After conservative Fox News analyst Gianno Caldwell was allegedly kicked out of a Miami bookstore called Paradis Books and Bread for discussing politics, he’s asking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to step in over the restaurant’s discriminatory practices.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

The altercation took place Saturday morning when Caldwell and some of his friends met up at the restaurant bookstore in North Miami.

“[W]hile we were having discussions about politics we were told by the owner that we were not welcomed there because we aren’t politically aligned. Outrageous,” tweeted Caldwell.

Caldwell also tweeted on Sunday asserting that he was “discriminated against for being a conservative and told to leave a restaurant in North Miami because my politics didn’t ‘align’ with the owner. This is NOT okay,” he charged.

He recounted his experience on “Fox & Friends” Sunday morning, telling host Rachel Campos-Duffy that the situation was reminiscent of what Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1963, “a simple truth: ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.’”

“What I experienced yesterday, me and some of my neighbors who I am just getting to know was an injustice, it was a grave injustice,” Caldwell indignantly railed, recounting how “one of the owners came over to the table and told us she had been listening to our conversation and we were not welcome there.”

The unabashed conservative approached the owner and asked her if he had said “something that was triggering” to her, and she responded “no” but “our politics aren’t aligned.” She bluntly told him she didn’t “feel comfortable” and they “have to leave.”

Caldwell was incensed over his talk with the owner and found it to be “so problematic.” She took issue with him working for Fox News and his book on his conservative views. She was also reportedly offended by his views on progressive prosecutors who were “exacerbating” crime across the country. The group was discussing Caldwell’s brother, who was shot and killed in Chicago last year as well.

“This was so problematic to this lady, she told me I needed to get out of her establishment,” Caldwell fiercely stated. “If this was not the Jim Crow South I could not tell much of a difference.”

Caldwell went on to state that he was the only one who spoke about politics and the owner “stared me down the entire time I was in the restaurant.” He said it was because he was a black conservative.

“There is a target on the backs of people who happen to be black, who happen to be conservative and it needs to come to an end, Rachel,” he told the Fox News host. “This should not be the case at all. Ron DeSantis said, in Florida, discrimination is not allowed. I hope they will look closely at what happened here at this restaurant.”

“It certainly says a lot about the myth of liberal tolerance,” Campos-Duffy told him. She also told Caldwell that he “can have breakfast with Fox & Friends anytime” and declared the restaurant “should be outed for lack of tolerance.”

Caldwell also sent a statement to NBC 6 that pointed out the discrimination and injustice of the incident: “In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King said: ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ My experience at Paradis Books and Bread in North Miami is a clear case of discrimination that should not be tolerated in Florida or anywhere in America. Whether liberal or conservative, no one should ever be asked to leave a place of business for engaging in political conversation in a respectful dialogue. Paradis is promoting a sort of political segregation that hearkens back to the days of the Jim Crow South and runs counter to the restaurant’s harm reduction policy.”

Paradis Books & Bread posted on Instagram that there had been an “incident” that violated their “safer spaces policy.”

 

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The bookstore also stated that they have been getting “harassed” on Twitter, Google, and Instagram since the incident occurred.

 

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The Miami Herald is reporting that the bookstore and restaurant have decided to close their doors until next month because of the incident. The owner is blaming “enraged conservatives” who wrote negative online reviews and social media posts vowing to boycott the establishment.

 

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