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By Shira Li Bartov
Staff Writer, Off-Platform
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A Kentucky steakhouse was flooded with complaints last weekend after installing a Ukrainian flag above its front door. Angry residents accused the restaurant of replacing an American flag—despite the fact that no American flag was ever there.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, General Manager Ben Ashlock clarified to the community that there were previously two Texas flags in front of Colton's Steak House & Grill in Bardstown, Kentucky. Although the chain is based in Arkansas, it is themed after the Texan wild west. The manager had merely switched out one of the Texas flags for the Ukrainian flag.
Ashlock told Newsweek he was shaken by the hate that inundated the restaurant, which suddenly started over 30 days after he initially put up the Ukrainian flag.
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A barrage of calls and messages accused the staff of being unpatriotic, un-American and disrespectful. Some residents left one-star reviews, saying the food "tasted woke" and they would not eat there again until they saw the national flag. Others said Ashlock was "supporting Nazis" and the Russia-Ukraine war was not real. Ashlock said a staff member who was answering the phone came to him in tears on Saturday.
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"Usually if a guest complains, I'm able to easily and quickly remedy it," Ashlock said. "In this situation, I would've violated my conscience. I'm not taking a flag down when a sovereign nation is being attacked."
Ashlock adopted an orphan from Ukraine three years ago. He has friends in the country who he checks on daily, including two American missionaries and three Ukrainians. Early in the war, an adoption facilitator who had helped Ashlock's family and remained a good friend was killed by a sniper.
"It's particularly upsetting to me when people say the war isn't real," Ashlock said. "I get it firsthand from people who are going through it."
On Saturday evening, Ashlock decided to eliminate confusion by adding an American flag in front of the steakhouse. Instead of the original two Texas flags, there is now an American flag on the right and a Ukrainian flag on the left.
Despite all the vitriolic complaints, the restaurant received support too, including from Ashlock's friends in the U.S. military.
"Thank you for flying the Ukraine flag and showing support to our Ukrainian brothers and sisters," said the top comment on the restaurant's Facebook post. "I can't believe anyone would send hate messages for that...what the hell has happened to us?"
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted at the end of March, 70 percent of Americans now consider Russia an enemy of the United States, up from 41 percent in January. Just six percent of adults said they have confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin, while 72 percent have confidence in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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