Zach Berg

zberg@press-citizen.com

What started as a joke has led to controversy and threats against Stella, the University Heights restaurant.

Kevin Perez, a manager at Stella, said Wednesday that the business has received multiple threats after they charged Donald Trump voters and Michigan football fans higher cover charges Saturday night, when the Iowa Hawkeyes defeated Michigan at Kinnick Stadium.

Stella, which is less than a half-mile from Kinnick, usually charges a $5 entry fee on college football game days. But on Saturday, potential patrons were presented with a sliding scale of cover charges, depending on their political preference and team loyalty.

Patrons were handed a clipboard that would reveal four payment options, Perez said: Those who said they voted for Trump and rooted for Michigan would lift a flap on the clipboard that read "Trump Michigan" to reveal a $20 charge. Those who picked Trump and Iowa would have a cover charge of $10. Those who said they voted Clinton and rooted for Iowa or Michigan would be charged $5. Those who said they didn't vote were charged $10, and third-party voters were charged $5-$10 depending on the time of day.

Eric Stelter, a North Liberty resident who had was a self-described fan of Stella, visited Stella at halftime with his wife when he noticed a sign at the front door that read "yes, this is discrimination, but you voted for it." After seeing the prices, he said told the employee at the door that he voted for Trump and handed them $10. The employee then told him no, that it was $10 for both individually.

"We just left," Stelter said Thursday. “It could have been the other way around, where Hillary Clinton supporters had to pay more, we still would have left. That's just crossing the line."

Perez stressed that Saturday's prices were simply a joke and said customers often changed their answers, saying they voted for Clinton, and received the $5 cover charge during the nine hours the business charged the sliding-scale rates.

"It wasn't about the money, it was about the joke," Perez said. "I have no problem if you voted for Trump. I have no problem if you voted for Gary Johnson. It was a funny way to engage. There was no fighting, no violence, no anything. Five people got mad over the nine hours we did it, and they would just leave."

Stelter said “it doesn't matter how mild or severe it is, it's still discrimination."

Stelter talked to the local TV station KGAN after he posted a Google review of the restaurant about the experience Saturday, saying "It's very confusing that Stella's (sic) would make such a stand against President-elect Trump for their beliefs that he is discriminatory but yet have their own staff do the same thing that supposedly they're against. It's very sad to say, but I will not be giving my business to Stella's nor their partner restaurants. Respectfully, a Trump Voter."

The restaurant has been dealing with backlash ever since.

Following outcries on social media, the restaurant has taken down its Facebook page, Perez said. The restaurant's page on Yelp!, a website where people can post reviews of businesses, has been inundated with dozens of one-star reviews complaining about discriminatory charging practices. The story has even received attention from national news sites.

Perez said the threats have shaken some of the employees, and the business has even received calls of threats to burn down the restaurant.

"That's not fair to the employees. People live and work here," he said. "No one needs to live in fear like that."

Stelter said he was disappointed to see the threats against Stella in the wake of Saturday's events. "I didn't want that at all. It's just sad what's happening now."

"If it's just a bad judgment call by the manager, and they are completely sorry about what they did, then I would gladly go back to Stella."

Reach Zach Berg at 319-887-5412, zberg@press-citizen.com, or follow him on Twitter: @ZacharyBerg.