A Georgetown area restaurant owner is making it clear that he does not support the Black Lives Matter movement and anyone in his employ who vocalizes support can no longer work at his establishment.
According to South Strand News Kiana Knowlin, a restaurant hostess at Seven Hundred Modern Grill & Bar located at 916 Front St. in Georgetown, SC was terminated from her position after voicing her support for BLM demonstrators that were peacefully marching the streets. While demonstrators chanted requests for peace and unity, restaurant patrons came out and hugged them and shook hands but owner John Cranston chose to mock and heckle.
Who is killing you? Nobody is killing you — I don’t see anyone killing you,” Cranston yelled at the marchers. “Who are you? Who are we killing? I don’t see anyone getting killed.”
When protestors circled back past the restaurant, Knowlin told a Georgetown reporter covering the group that Cranston fired her for voicing support and asking him to stop mocking their efforts.
“I can’t believe he fired me because I supported the marchers,” Knowlin told a Georgetown Times reporter on the scene. “He was making fun of them and laughing at them and I couldn’t believe it. I wanted him to stop and then he started cussing at me and fired me right then and there.
Before dismissing her statements as a “hoax” or an attempt to “blame the white man” Cranston admitted to same publication that he did fire her for voicing her support.
On Sunday, Oct. 2, the Georgetown Times reached back out to Cranston and Knowlin.
Cranston told the newspaper that he and Knowlin exchanged words about the appropriateness of the march passing in front of his restaurant, after which, Cranston said, he fired Knowlin for supporting the march while she was on duty as the restaurant’s hostess.
“Do I want them in front of my restaurant on a Saturday night? No,” Cranston said. “She had a choice, and I told her, ‘If that’s what you think you want to do, go ahead and do it, but I’ll have to fire you if that’s what you want to do.’”
Perhaps realizing the error of his ways, or the future impact on his business, Cranston conceded that Knowlin was a “good employee” and would be happy to speak to her about resuming her duties. Knowlin declined.
