(Bloomberg) -- Olive Garden, the restaurant best known for its unlimited breadsticks, has found itself in the middle of an unlikely culture war.
The casual-dining chain was yanked into the forefront of cable TV Wednesday when CNN’s Anderson Cooper quipped the D.C. rioters would be going to celebrate at Olive Garden when they vacated the Capitol.
“Look at them, they’re high-fiving each other for this deplorable display of completely unpatriotic, completely against law and order, completely unconstitutional behavior,” Cooper said in the on-air clip. “And they’re going to go back to the Olive Garden and to the Holiday Inn that they’re staying at, or the Garden Marriott, and they’re going to have some drinks and they’re going to talk about the great day they had in Washington.”
Following his remark, “Olive Garden” quickly began trending on Twitter, with fans coming to the chain’s defense and calling Cooper’s remark classist. Fox News anchors backed the eatery as well, with commentator Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson both plugging it in subsequent segments.
“There’s nothing wrong with Olive Garden. Let me just give a plug for Olive Garden. I like Olive Garden. I like their salad -- unlimited -- unlimited garlic breadsticks that are phenomenal. Some nights, you get unlimited pasta,” Hannity said, calling the comment “indicative” of CNN looking down on “real people.”
Olive Garden parent company Darden Restaurants Inc. didn’t comment but did say an apparent Olive Garden statement making its way around the internet Friday that said the chain would revoke its lifetime pasta pass to Hannity was a “spoof.”
CNN and Holiday Inn owner InterContinental Hotels Group didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. Marriott International Inc. declined to comment.
Últimas Noticias
Debanhi Escobar: they secured the motel where she was found lifeless in a cistern
Members of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Nuevo León secured the Nueva Castilla Motel as part of the investigations into the case
The oldest person in the world died at the age of 119
Kane Tanaka lived in Japan. She was born six months earlier than George Orwell, the same year that the Wright brothers first flew, and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Macabre find in CDMX: they left a body bagged and tied in a taxi
The body was left in the back seats of the car. It was covered with black bags and tied with industrial tape
The eagles of America will face Manchester City in a duel of legends. Here are the details
The top Mexican football champion will play a match with Pep Guardiola's squad in the Lone Star Cup
Why is it good to bring dogs out to know the world when they are puppies
A so-called protection against the spread of diseases threatens the integral development of dogs
