KATY, Texas – A restaurant with a poster on its wall that some find offensive has seen a big boom in business.
KPRC Local 2 aired a story Thursday about Nonmacher's Barbecue on Mason Road.
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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."
Owner John 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.
"This is still America. If they're not happy here, then they should go back to Iran," Nonmacher said.
Nonmacher said his business has seen more customers since the story aired than they have in years.
"This is like $100 million worth of advertising," he said. "I'm amazed at the support."
People have driven from all over the Houston area to go to the restaurant.
"Took me 80 miles to find it," first-time customer Suzanne Hampson said. "It's nobody's business what he has on his wall. We're in America."
"The man's got a right to say what he feels," another customer said.
Many in the Iranian-American community said the poster offends them.
"I would hope that we'd have a little more sensitivity to things like this," one woman said.
Some have said they plan to protest outside the restaurant Saturday afternoon.
Nonmacher said he does not mind the protest, but he is not happy about the anonymous threats he has received.
"The this and that, this and that, we're going to blow your place up and kill you. OK, don't talk about it. Do it," Nonmacher said.