Some of the regular folks are really nice. Unfortunately, there's a few "bad apples" that make this…read moreplace undesirable and too bottom-of-the-barrel for me to frequent. If you're a racist, MAGA, or simply don't have much schooling, this is the place for you. For the rest of us who don't support Trump or don't wish to be racist, it's best to steer clear from this spot.
At times during karaoke, the chants of "let's go Brandon" roar throughout the bar. MAGA hats are also visible when the place is busy. But this is not the problem. Being part Italian, a few months ago I sang an Italian song. After I finished, the KJ asked me what my ethnicity was. I responded "Greek-Italian-Mexican-Spanish". A girl I knew vaguely, who I had invited to our table and introduced her to my friends in a very nice manner, did not like my response. She launched an attack on me filled with extreme racism, including asking me to leave the country because according to her, I'm "not patriotic enough". Mind you, there's a ton of Italian people that come here, but somehow she had a problem because I wasn't fully white. She repeated her rant about me leaving the country, which led me to ask her to leave our table and go sit elsewhere.
I decided to email the Bonita Springs Eagle in an effort to try to resolve this. The president emailed me back, called me as well, and we talked about the incident. It wasn't difficult to learn he supports MAGA as well, but yet we agreed to resolve the issue. I was asked to fill out a complaint form and turn it in to the council, for which they'd be voting on whether to take action or not. During my conversation with him, he said, "I can understand (her attacking you) had you been in the country illegally ... that would've been different", meaning it would've been ok. Well, legal or illegal, verbally abusing another person because of their immigration status, does not give anyone the green light to attack them, discriminate them, and use racism as a tool.
Initially, I was moving towards filing the complaint. However, because the president himself is MAGA, and likely the council voting is as well, plus the anti-immigrant sentiment there, I have since changed my mind and decided I will not be renewing my membership nor coming back to this place. There's plenty of places throughout SWFL. This one is definitly not a good fit for me, I wish them luck.
