“I was just doing what I thought was right for the business,” the manager explained in a public statement. “We had Kamala Harris there just weeks before, and it turned into a madhouse. We had actors pretending to be regular customers, the Secret Service blocking the bathrooms, and real customers couldn’t get in to eat. I didn’t want a repeat of that.”
The manager also claims that there was no official company policy in place about political campaign stops and that he had not been given specific instructions on how to handle high-profile visitors. “How was I supposed to know refusing one sandwich would lead to a $50 million disaster?” he said. “It’s not like there’s a section in the employee handbook for ‘what to do when J.D. Vance walks in.’”
As with anything involving both politics and food, public reaction has been fierce. Supporters of the boycott see the lawsuit as a desperate attempt by Primanti Bros. to shift the blame for their financial woes onto one employee. “Primanti messed up, and now they’re scapegoating this guy,” tweeted one user. “Maybe if they hadn’t cleared the place out for Kamala, people wouldn’t be so mad. But now they’re suing a guy for $10 million? Over a sandwich? Give me a break.”
