KATY, Texas – The owner of a longtime Katy barbecue restaurant vows he will not remove a poster on his wall, despite cries of racism that are spreading online, Local 2 Investigates reported Thursday.
"This is still America. If they're not happy here, then they should go back to Iran," said John Nonmacher, owner of Nonmacher's Barbecue on Mason Road.
Recommended Videos
Among the many joking posters and other signs on the walls, one poster depicts a group of cowboys lynching what appears to be a Middle Eastern man. One member of the lynch mob wears a shirt that reads "Iranians Suck" and the caption at the bottom declares, "Let's play cowboys and Iranians."
Ayman Wafai, a Houston energy engineer of Syrian heritage, spoke to the owner after his wife spotted the poster. He said it's a racist attack on anyone with Middle Eastern ties. He said if a different race were depicted, the furor would be deafening.
He said, "Imagine this is a picture of an African American, and this is a public restaurant, and they have a picture of a man being lynched ... an African American being lynched. How ridiculous is that?"
"I think this racism should not be tolerated," wrote Noha Mendoza of Houston in an email to Local 2 Investigates.
Her family hails from Egypt and she said she was angered and wondered what type of hatred this would teach to her kids.
"We live in a very diverse city and this does not represent the Houston area positively. It only shows the ignorance of these people," she wrote.
Several websites are spreading the photograph and a description of the controversy, causing Nonmacher's phones to be jammed throughout the day.
Nonmacher said he hung the poster up 30 years ago around the time of the Iranian hostage crisis. He said he doesn't remember what he was thinking or expecting when he originally hung it up for display.
"The message is still the same," he said, referring to American students being held captive by Iran's government recently. "Times have changed? I don't think so."
When asked by Local 2 Investigates about an entire ethnicity being singled out in the poster, Nonmacher replied, "I don't find it that way. I don't find that discriminatory."
He said his regular customers are not affected by the controversy. The people spreading the word online, he said, "They're not customers, I can guarantee you."
He said people are spreading lies as part of a campaign against his free speech rights. He said some postings claim certain ethnicities were not seated, but he pointed out that no one is escorted to a seat in his restaurant.
He also said other online message posters claim they were served bad chicken, but he pointed out chicken is not on his menu.
"It's all B.S.," he said.
He said he's getting phone calls from area codes all over the nation, many of whom are believing lies they have read online.
He has no plans to remove the poster, despite some efforts to organize a protest or sit-in at his restaurant.