LA Mexican Restaurant Closes After Claims of Customer Harassment Over Mask Policy

Fans are lining up in solidarity behind Hugo’s Tacos, the Los Angeles Mexican restaurant with locations in the San Fernando Valley and Atwater Village, after the company announced that it would be temporarily closing both of its locations because workers were being bullied by people who refused to abide by safety protocols. “Staff have been harassed, called names, and had objects and liquids thrown at them,” Hugo’s ownership said in a public statement, mostly for asking customers to wear their state-mandated face masks while ordering amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Weekend reactions on Twitter varied from “thank you for standing up for your staff” to “LA get it together, this behavior is unacceptable.” A GoFundMe for employees has also been launched, and currently sits at over $22,000. Co-owner Bill Kohne told the LA Times that he expects the restaurant to be closed for at least the next week.

The statement continues:

Both of our locations are going to take a break and recharge. We’ve loved serving you for the last 15 years and hope the LA community comes together on this issue so we can feel safe and reopen soon.

Los Angeles County is currently leading the nation’s recent explosion of coronavirus cases, with over 97,000 cases and 3,305 deaths.

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