Two waitresses at a bar in Philadelphia were fired after holding up a “F*** the Jews” sign brought by a Temple University student, Mo Khan, who has since been suspended, the Jerusalem Post reported.
By Rachel Avraham
Two waitresses at a bar in Philadelphia were fired after holding up a “F*** the Jews” sign brought by a Temple University student, Mo Khan, who has since been suspended, the Jerusalem Post reported. The incident began when a customer ordered bottle service at Barstool Sansom Street in downtown Philadelphia, and an antisemitic sign was ordered along with it, CNN reported.
The sign read “F**k the Jews,” according to Dave Portnoy, the American Jewish owner of Barstool Sports. According to Portnoy, when patrons order bottle service at the bar, signs are typically shown and displayed, FOX 29 reported. Unfortunately, in a video posted to Instagram and X, Portnoy says ‘there was a sign yesterday that said f— the Jews.’ According to CNN, he said the incident made him furious and he immediately launched an investigation of who was responsible for the sign.
Portnoy said he spoke with two men who were responsible for the incident, and two servers at his bar who were involved have been fired, CNN added. “The employees complied with a customer’s request for a sign in connection with ordering bottle service,” Barstool Samson Street said in a statement posted to social media. “We take all forms of discrimination incredibly seriously, and are particularly upset by actions taken against our Jewish patrons, colleagues, partners, and friends,” it said in the post.
In a letter to the Temple University community, President John Fry said the school is investigating a “deeply disturbing” antisemitic incident and the student who is believed to be involved has been placed on interim suspension, CNN reported. “In the strongest terms possible, let me be clear: antisemitism is abhorrent. It has no place at Temple and acts of hatred and discrimination against any person or persons are not tolerated at this university,” Fry said.
Portnoy says he will use this as a ‘teaching moment’ by sending the people who ordered the antisemitic sign to Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust, Fox 29 reported. According to the report, Portnoy, who is Jewish, says he will pay for them to go and tour concentration camps. “For everyone who wants these kids’ lives to be ruined, I think you can lay off, and I think this is a fair *expletive* trade,” said Portnoy.
Rabbi David Kushner, a chaplain with the Philadelphia Police Department, told Fox 29 that he spoke with Portnoy about the incident on Sunday, which he calls “incredibly concerning,” especially, just days into Jewish American History Month. “He was pained by it and is pained by it, and he’s angered by it, and he would like to find ways to help avoid that from happening in the future, not just in his establishments, but everywhere,” said Rabbi Kushner. “Every single person deserves basic human decency, and what we saw in that video does not meet that standard, does not even come close to it.”
