Coffee Shop Owner Closes Business After Daughter Posts Anti-Cop Facebook Status
A coffeehouse owner in Massachusetts has shut down her business over controversial remarks her daughter made about police on Facebook.
"I've lost my business and I've lost my daughter ... I don't know how this story just keeps building, but I need people to leave me alone. I'm closing my business so I can stop being harassed," Kato Mele told The (Lynn, Massachusetts) Daily Item. Her shop, White Rose Coffeehouse, is only one year old.
On October 13, Mele's 23-year-old daughter Sophie posted a statement to her personal Facebook page stating she would never allow her family's establishment to host a "Coffee with a Cop" event because they're "bullies" and "racist killers." The comment was posted without Mele's permission and allegedly provoked violent threats toward Mele's business and her daughter, who was immediately fired from a management position.
"She has taken down her Facebook page and is receiving death threats and is hiding right now," Mele continued. "I am not of the same opinion and yet I am being held accountable for someone else's opinion and it's not going to stop."
In a letter to Lynn Police Department, Mele apologized for her daughter's actions, writing, "Make no mistake: I am incredibly proud of them and what they do."
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