Texas Restaurant Owner Kicks Out Couple For Wearing Masks

A Dallas-area couple are fuming after their rare night out turned into a scene over face masks.

Natalie Wester and Jose Lopez are the parents of a 4-month-old son who has cystic fibrosis. A September 10 trip to Hang Time Sports Grill & Bar in Rowlett, Texas, was one of the first times the couple has been out with friends since their son was born.

The couple is vaccinated, but they still wear masks to protected their immunocompromised son. What the couple didn't know as that the restaurant they went to banned face masks.

“Our waitress came over, sat down next to me and said, ‘Our manager told me to come over because I am nicer than he is… But this is political and I need you to take your masks off,'" Wester told CBS 11.

The couple closed out their check and left Hang Time, but Wester recounted the incident in a viral Facebook post. Now news about the restaurant's mask ban has gone international.

Restaurant owner Tom Blackmer is now defending his mask ban, which he started in April.

“I have spent my money on the business, my blood sweat and tears in this business, and I don’t want masks in here,” he told the TV station.

There is no mask mandate in Rowlett, and Blackmer is within his rights to operate his business as he sees fit, the Dallas Morning News explained.

“They have a choice to go wherever they want; there are thousands of bars around here. Go somewhere else,” Blackmer told the paper.

Now, both the restaurant and the couple are dealing with the fallout from the incident. Strangers have been combing the couple's personal Facebook pages and leaving rude messages, while Hang Time's social media pages have been bombarded by negative reviews. Blackmer told the Washington Post that he's also been doxxed.

“This town is trying to burn me down,” he said. “They are just vicious.”