BOSTON — The owners of a well-known Boston tavern say they're the victims of a misinformation campaign.
They say it started when a group attended a 'free speech' rally at the statehouse and then had lunch at their establishment.
Now, there are dozens of posts to Yelp saying The Green Dragon Tavern supports Nazis.
“It’s been a very painful week to get this onslaught of emails calling us Nazis,” co-owner Noelle Somers told Boston 25 News.
Somers says the onslaught of misinformation about her restaurant started Saturday.
That's when a group of patrons apparently attended a free speech rally at the statehouse and then came by for lunch.
“The group was quiet, non-descript. They weren’t wearing anything to show hate or anything of that nature,” Somers explained.
Shortly after, another group arrived outside and told the manager they were serving neo-Nazis and demanded they be kicked out.
“None of these people were patrons. Not once did a patron within out establishment voice concern,” said Somers.
Nonetheless, surveillance video shows the manager approached the group inside. Owners say the manager talked to them to make sure they weren't promoting hate or threatening any other patrons.
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This didn't satisfy the group outside.
“They did say they had a large network and they would take us down,” Somers said.
She said that's when the phones started ringing.
On Facebook, The Boston Feminists for Liberation page wrote the bar was “… playing host to members of women hating, gay bashing, white supremacist groups.”
On Yelp, dozens of reviews appeared with comments like, “stay away, this bar serves Nazis openly wearing swastikas and other white supremacist symbols … intimidating other patrons.”
“None of these things happened,” co-owner Sean Somers said.
Yelp launched an ‘active cleanup’ of the reviews that it says don’t reflect a firsthand customer experience.