FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization has condemned the hate targeted at Fresno restaurant Tasty Thai after online rumors saying they cook and serve dog meat to customers forced its owner to close the business.
In a statement, the Senior Civil Rights Attorney with Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Layli Shirani says “the racist targeting of this restaurant should be condemned by all members of the Fresno community and should be repudiated strongly by public officials,” adding that the CAIR stands in solidarity with the Asian-American community against growing hatred and bigotry.
In an interview last week, David Rasavong, the owner of Tasty Thai, says they have received so much backlash on not only their social media pages, but they have gotten dozens of negative reviews. They say none of it is true and it all started with someone posting a video of a dog at a house next to the restaurant.
“It started spreading like wildfire that we were abusing dogs, torturing dogs, serving dog meat here,” says David Rasavong, the owner of Tasty Thai.
Rasavong says these claims couldn’t be further from the truth. He says it all started when someone posted a video about a dog being tied up without water next door. He says he doesn’t live there and doesn’t own the home but Rasavong says before long commenters concluded the Tasty Thai was putting that dog and others on its menu.
The person behind the video has since apologized and asked those commenting to stop sending threats saying she was just concerned about the dog.