The owners of a well-known tavern in Boston said they're victims of a misinformation campaign, after a group that attended a "free speech" rally had lunch at their establishment, WFXT reports.
There are now dozens of posts to Yelp saying The Green Dragon Tavern supports Nazis, according to WFXT.
“It’s been a very painful week, to get this onslaught of emails calling us Nazis,” said co-owner Noelle Somers.
Somers says the onslaught of misinformation about her restaurant started Saturday.
That's when a group of patrons apparently attended a free speech rally at the Statehouse and then came by for lunch.
“The group was quiet, nondescript. They weren’t wearing anything to show hate or anything of that nature,” Somers said.
Shortly after, another group arrived outside and told the manager the tavern was serving neo-Nazis and demanded they be kicked out.
“None of these people were patrons. Not once did a patron within our establishment voice concern,” said Somers.
Nonetheless, surveillance video shows that the manager approached the group inside. Owners said the manager talked to the group to make sure its members weren't promoting hate or threatening any other patrons.
This didn't satisfy the group outside.
“They did say they had a large network and they would take us down,” Somers said.
She said that's when the phones started ringing.
On Facebook, the Boston Feminists for Liberation page posted that the bar was “playing host to members of women hating, gay bashing, white supremacist groups.”
On Yelp, dozens of reviews appeared with comments like, “stay away, this bar serves Nazis openly wearing swastikas and other white supremacist symbols and intimidating other patrons.”
“None of these things happened,” co-owner Sean Somers said.
Yelp launched what it called an “active cleanup” of the reviews that it said don’t reflect a firsthand customer experience.
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