‘Smoothie king is cooked’: Michigan Smoothie King workers refuse customers because of their MAGA merch. Then one of them gets fired
Two Michigan Smoothie King workers refused to serve a couple because of their MAGA affiliation. Then, they got fired for it. Now, one of the workers, alongside the internet at large, is responding to the situation. They are spilling much more information about the incident.
TikToker Janiyah Mishelle (@onichasco0chiee) was let go from her position at Smoothie King after the incident. She shared her position in a TikTok video with over 295,000 views. In her video, she explained a little bit more about what went down and her perspective regarding the situation. In addition to her videos describing the event, others have weighed in on platforms like TikTok and X. They added that the entire situation is very bad for Smoothie King’s optics.
What happened at the Michigan Smoothie King?
Mishelle was working a relatively busy shift at Smoothie King when a couple came into the store. Mishelle and one of her fellow employees couldn’t immediately attend to them. At first, everything was fine. But then, they noticed the couple giving them “weird” looks. That, alongside the man who had entered the store’s attire, made them extremely uncomfortable.
Mishelle realized that there was something off about the interaction in general at that point. Her co-worker told her that she was uncomfortable with the shirt that one of the guests was wearing. Eventually, one of the potential customers spoke up and asked if there was a problem. They then let the couple know they were uncomfortable with the sweatshirt and didn’t feel they could offer them service.
The customers, who have been publicly identified as Erika Lindemyer and Jake Lindemyer, got into a heated exchange with Mishelle and the other employee over their refusal to give service. Mishelle started recording the interaction for a later post to her TikTok page.
The Lindemyers can be heard in their video saying, “We were just wanting a smoothie, and you literally looked at us, and I asked you if everything was okay, and you said, ‘We don’t feel comfortable serving you’ because of my husband’s hoodie.’”
In the original video, Mishelle tells them to “have a great day,” repeatedly as a way of getting them to leave.
What did Mishelle specifically say about the incident?
Mishelle claimed in her video that she, alongside her fellow employee, had a right to refuse service. She also mentioned that the Lindemyers had gotten incredibly loud. This was why she and the other employee started yelling back at them.
“ I’m not really sure what else to tell you guys, so that’s why I kept repeating. ‘Have a good day. Thank you’. And then they started asking us for our names, like saying that they were gonna call the police on us. And it’s just like, ‘baby, you said you were gonna leave, so what are you still doing here?’” Mishelle added. A post from her perspective outlined some of the things that she mentioned to the Lindemyers, including that “[Smoothie King] doesn’t support that,” referring to Jake Lindemyer’s MAGA hoodie.
Mishelle did not clarify how the situation ended in her original video. Erika Lindemyer, however, posted on her personal Facebook page, saying, “I’m disgusted as a AMERICAN CITIZEN! I loved Smoothie King and was refused service over my husbands sweatshirt!!!! Talk about DISCRIMINATION!!!”
How has the situation affected Mishelle
Mishelle mentioned that the negative attention has led to active threats against her. “ Now everybody’s attacking me online. All the boys. Oh, news stations have picked this up. I’m trending on every social media platform,” she added toward the end of her TikTok video.
In subsequent follow-up posts, she posted one of the messages she had received after the couple’s post went viral. The Right Angle News Network sent her a direct message on Instagram, which said, “Lmao get [expletive] little [expletive].” A second message read, “jobless and Gofundme about to go lockup.”
Mishelle later gave a comment to Fox News regarding the situation, saying, “My political opinions are very complex. I do not stand on behalf of any political party. I merely refused service because of the alleged affiliations the Trump administration has to [pedophiles]. She added that she believes in the Unites States and “want[s] to see our citizens standing up against binary political logic.”
While she’s received a large amount of hate online, she’s continued posting and even found a new job.
Smoothie King responds
Smoothie King responded to the situation via an X post.
The company wrote, “As a brand, Smoothie King is committed to ensuring our stores are a place free of discrimination of any kind, where every guest and team member is treated with care and respect. Following an investigation into an incident involving a guest who was refused service at a franchised location in Michigan yesterday, the franchise owner has taken immediate action and the two employees involved are no longer with the business.
“Both the franchise owner and Smoothie King corporate have reached out to the guest several times to apologize and will continue to follow up. The local owner is also taking further action and enforcing mandatory retraining for all employees that outlines our guest experience standards.”
Commenters on the X post pointed out how their statements directly opposed some of their publicly available DEI initiatives. Many right-wing commentators lambasted the company for having the initiatives in the first place. They also pointed toward an alleged manager who stated they would allow their employees to refuse service to Trump workers, requesting multiple times that the post get addressed. Smoothie King did not provide further clarification.
TikTok content creators respond
Other content creators argued that Smoothie King letting go of Mishelle and her fellow employee was a bad decision for its optics. Especially considering the fact that the incident occurred right after Black History Month. At that point, conservatives were already boycotting Smoothie King because of the Ann Arbor incident as well as the company’s DEI initiatives. At the same time, many left-wing audiences felt that the employees getting fired was an exceptionally poor decision. This has led to a slew of people saying they’d boycott the company.
One content creator, Aunt Kay (@kla.reads), who simply discussed the “[expletive] ton of comments” the company received in the aftermath, said, “ it looks like it’s gonna be bad, so strap in.”
“Smoothie king is cooked [because] the liberals are in the comments saying they won’t buy [because] they fired her and half of the trumpies didn’t realize they fired her and are saying they won’t buy because they’re anti trump,” one commenter on her post said.
Some commenters argue that the decision was correct
Despite many people saying they’d be boycotting Smoothie King, some commenters—regardless of political affiliation—said that the company made the right call. Some viewers argued that refusing service because of political affiliation was wrong, no matter what that affiliation was.
“I am totally against [MAGA], and I have been from the beginning, however, they had a right to fire her,” one viewer said. “You can’t refuse service to someone because you don’t like the clothes they’re wearing. If that person wearing Maga shirts didn’t provoke her from the beginning, she had no right to refuse service.”
The situation has developed into a hotly debated, sore subject for many people, regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum. Some argued that serving MAGA continues to perpetuate acceptance of an ideology that directly opposes people’s humanity and rights. Others said that it was a simple exchange and discriminatory to judge someone based on their clothing. The situation proved incredibly polarizing, with thousands of people supporting each side of the debate.
@onichasco0chiee #greenscreen #blk #janiyahmishelle #smoothieking #viral ♬ tranloptruon – trân???
The Mary Sue reached out to Smoothie King via its press form for comment, as well as Aunt Kay via TikTok direct message. Mishelle and the Lindemyer family were unavailable for comment.
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