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WATCH ABOVE: Hispanic restaurant owner schedules ‘White Appreciation Day,’ saying all Americans deserve to be celebrated. KUSA’s Whitney Wild reports.

TORONTO – A Colorado restaurant is planning a special “whites only” customer appreciation day that is stirring up controversy in the United States.

The new owners of Rubbin’ Buttz BBQ in Milliken, Edgar Antillon and Miguel Jimenez, plan to offer a ten per cent discount to caucasian customers on June 11. The catch – people of any other skin colour are being left out.

It's official! #whiteappreciation day at our restaurant. June 11th all white people will receive 10% off. #celebrateallamericans. — Edgar Antillon (@eantillon) May 7, 2015

The pair have admitted the idea started as a joke but believe the event is justified. They’re allegedly using it to start a positive conversation about race and equality.

“We have a whole month for Black History Month,” Antillon told KUSA-TV. “We have a whole month for Hispanic Heritage Month, so we thought the least we could do was offer one day to appreciate white Americans.”

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The website for Rubbin’ Buttz BBQ in Milliken was offline Friday after a high volume of traffic. http://rubbinbuttzbbq.com/

But at least one civil rights activist can’t believe the event is moving forward.

“It’s a perpetuation of racism,” Ricardo Romero said. “It’s wrong. If you’re going to give a discount, give it to the whole community.”

Antillon expects more backlash but is sticking to his guns.

“People will try to politicize the [expletive] out of it,” he said in a report from The Washington Times . “It’s simply a day to celebrate White Heritage, like I celebrate my Mexican Heritage on September 16th (Mexican Independence), and celebrate my American Heritage on July 4th.”

The restaurant owner is using the hashtag “#celebrateallamericans” on Twitter to get his point across on social media.

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