In 2018, then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was eating at the Red Hen in Lexington when the owners asked her to leave because of her politics. It was a huge controversy (and not to be confused with the September incident when President Trump and those who were with him were harassed by protesters at the D.C. eatery with the same name).
That Red Hen location closed permanently in 2023.
Now, an Arkansas eatery has started the clock on its own closure after asking Governor Huckabee Sanders to leave their establishment, again over her politics.
It’s the Red Hen all over again.
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) March 19, 2026
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas governor, was having lunch with two mom friends near her kid's school in Little Rock. The owners asked her to leave because her politics made them feel unsafe. We have the details:https://t.co/kYR1LXqlzi
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas and former White House press secretary, says she was having lunch with two mom friends at a restaurant called The Croissanterie in Little Rock when the owner kicked them out. Her presence at the restaurant, the owner told the governor, made the employees feel “threatened and uncomfortable” because of her political views. As they left, she was given the middle finger.
This is the second time Sanders has found herself in this exact situation. Back in 2018 when she was White House press secretary, it made national news when a small Virginia restaurant called the Red Hen told her she and her family to leave because she worked for Donald Trump. The incident won the owner of the restaurant profiles from liberal media like the Washington Post, which hailed the owner for “taking a stand” against Sanders.
That restaurant permanently closed in 2023.
Recommended
Some said the Red Hen reopened under another name, in case you want to avoid dining there if you're in Lexington.
They closed it for a year, then rebranded and reopened under the name "Zun Zun". Ate there once, food was good, staff was exactly what you'd expect. But a lot of people around here won't set foot in the place. Town is a little blue university spot is a sea of deep red.
— SamlAdams1722 (@Adams1722Saml) March 19, 2026
The owners of The Croissanterie realize they live and work in Arkansas, right? Since 1968, the state has only voted nationally for Democrats three times: once for Jimmy Carter and twice for former Governor Bill Clinton. The GOP has won the state consistently for the last quarter of a century.
The owners  pic.twitter.com/6WtMw4isO5
— Harry Richards (@pizzabagel301) March 19, 2026
Soon-to-be former owners, you mean.
She’s not a horrible person. People who have different political positions aren’t horrible people.
— Ack Teacher 🇺🇸 (@AckTeacher) March 19, 2026
We know that. Leftists do not.
And some of them are genuinely horrible people, politics aside.
Governor Huckabee Sanders addressed it, too.
Last week I was having lunch with two other moms at a restaurant when the owner approached a member of the State Police Executive Protection Detail and said my presence made their employees feel threatened and told us to leave.
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) March 19, 2026
Arkansans are known for their warm hospitality, and… https://t.co/oYtZQNkX8o
"Arkansans are known for their warm hospitality, and while that restaurant didn’t meet that standard, my administration will continue to focus on lifting Arkansans up, not tearing others down," she wrote on X.
UPDATE: After our story posted, employees at The Croissanterie posted this defiant picture. And now it all makes sense.
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) March 19, 2026
“I’m proud af to be gay” https://t.co/jAxjQl0bFL pic.twitter.com/OmYbzJtCmG
Soon it will be "proud af to be unemployed."
“By the time they were booted, they had already eaten and paid.”
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 19, 2026
What a classy establishment. They took her business & money before performatively throwing her out for “safety” reasons, while giving her the finger. Based on their Instagram, looks like the Gov is/was a fan. https://t.co/t8XDAmL1Wm pic.twitter.com/PIKvJuaVab
No one should ever eat there again.
You don’t “kick someone out” after they’ve eaten & paid. I’m not sure what you call it. Maybe performative BS or something. But it’s just stupid. https://t.co/MzFmS7pDPD
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) March 19, 2026
Yes, it is.
Leftists were the ones who attacked bakeries and other businesses that wouldn't make them cakes, insisting businesses were public accommodations that couldn't discriminate. But those rules were never meant to apply to them, of course. But if you're in Little Rock, there are lots of other dining options.
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