Twitter Is Roasting Anti-Vaxxers Over This Applebee's Protest

It's not news to anyone that restaurants have had a hard time during the pandemic. According to Fortune, more than 110,000 bars and restaurants closed in the U.S. in 2020, while the businesses remaining open continue to deal with challenges presented by labor shortages, rising costs, and more. Additionally, restaurants are being forced to contend with diners opposed to government-enforced vaccination policies. CBS News reports that six anti-vaccination protesters recently got arrested at a Cheesecake Factory in New York City after demonstrating for their right to eat at the restaurant, which requires proof of vaccination per city mandates. Unsurprisingly, the stunt resulted in a ton of online mockery aimed at the arrested protesters.

Almost concurrently, the same scene played out at an Applebee's restaurant in New York City, per Insider. Four anti-vaxxers protesting at the restaurant were arrested as fellow Applebee's patrons chanted, "No more mandates." Unsurprisingly, Twitter has a lot to say about people taking out their vaccine frustrations on restaurants, which have to abide by city rules in order to avoid fines or forced closures.

After videos of the arrests surfaced on Twitter, people poked fun of the protestors for their dining choices. One user chimed in with, "People should be arrested for trying to eat at Applebees in general," while another said, "Imagine going to jail for eating at Applebees lol If I'm getting arrested it'll be at Ruth Chris or somewhere like that." Others made fun of the protestors for choosing the restaurant to pick a fight about vaccines. One tweet read, "Imagine getting arrested at Applebees cause you refused to get a free shot. Buncha losers. Lol," while a separate reply read, "Imagine yelling 'Hold the line!' in the middle of Applebees like you're a Scottish warrior in Braveheart" (via Twitter).

Insider reports that the Applebee's demonstration followed a similar stunt at a nearby Shake Shack. This leads us to expect that as long as some cities have vaccine mandates, protests will continue to happen at restaurants — and at the very least, social media will have some words about the whole situation.