Video shows woman shouting at veteran over dog, not soldiers booted from restaurant | Fact check
The claim: A video shows soldiers being forced to leave restaurant over 'safe space'
A July 30 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows a woman yelling at people in a restaurant. Then, it cuts to a man talking about the incident in an interview, saying he wanted to make sure “nobody got hurt.”
The post's caption claims the video shows “soldiers being booted from (a) restaurant over ‘safe space.’”
“A group of veterans and soldiers made reservations at a seafood restaurant for a special occasion in Delaware,” the caption reads. "They believed that they would be welcomed with open arms."
It was shared more than 50 times in two weeks.
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Our rating: False
The post miscaptions the video. It's originally from a 2017 news story about a restaurant customer who yelled at a veteran for having his service dog there. No military members were being kicked out.
Delaware restaurant makes headlines from an argument over service dog
The Facebook clip is from a September 2017 Inside Edition report about a video of an argument that went viral. Earlier that month, a woman was recorded in a Delaware City restaurant as she screamed at retired U.S. Army Master Sargeant Bill Austin, his wife Janet and others about Austin’s PTSD service dog being inside the establishment.
Janet Austin told Paste BN that contrary to the post’s claim, there were no other soldiers in the restaurant during the incident.
“The video of what actually happened in the restaurant is easy enough to find and shows up all the time on TikTok or YouTube,” she said.
She told Paste BN that she and her husband were in Delaware to visit family at the time. She said their service dog, a Great Dane named J.P., has since passed away from bone cancer.
In the Inside Edition interview, the Austins said this was the first time they’d ever been confronted about their dog.
“We’ve never been screamed at like that,” Janet Austin said in the 2017 Inside Edition interview. “I mean, we’ve had people ask us questions or, you know, comments about the dog because he’s so big. But we’ve never had anybody get in our face and just scream at us.”
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The Facebook post's caption echoes a claim from an April 2023 blog post that soldiers were booted from a restaurant over a "safe space." There are no credible reports that incident happened, and it was debunked by Lead Stories.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Janet Austin, Aug. 7, Facebook messenger exchange with Paste BN
- Inside Edition (YouTube), Sept. 25, 2017, Veteran Responds After Customer Screams About His Service Dog in Restaurant
- CBS News, Sept. 22, 2017, Woman seen in video ranting about veteran’s service dog speaks out
- Lead Stories, June 23, 2023, Fact Check: These Soldiers Were NOT Banned From Restaurant Over 'Safe Space' Claim
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