A Trans TikToker Was Threatened While Eating At Cheesecake Factory & Nobody Stepped In
"You’re a boy, right? Don’t f*ck with me 'cause, honestly, I hit."
It’s not every day that you’re enjoying a meal by yourself at a well-known restaurant chain when another patron comes to you just to insult and threaten you. Well, this is precisely what a trans TikToker recently experienced, and nobody stepped in to help her.
TikTok user and trans influencer Lilly Contino (@lillytino_) was having some food at a Cheesecake Factory location in San Francisco, CA when another woman — self-identifying as a TERF, a trans-exclusionary radical feminist — started yelling at her.
Contino, who recorded and posted the encounter on social media, can be seen enjoying a salad next to her pet when the restaurant customer approaches her asking, "You know I’m a TERF, right?"
With a look of surprise, the TikToker continues the conversation with a calm tone in her voice, asking the woman about being a TERF. However, the lady immediately starts insulting the content creator.
@lillytino_ A self-identified TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) threatened me at the @cheesecake factory. I happened to be streaming at the time and caught the encounter on camera. This happened at the Union Square location in San francisco
"You’re a boy, right? Don’t f*ck with me ‘cause, honestly, I hit. I hit hard," the woman can be heard on the previously mentioned TikTok post. "Don’t judge me for being a TERF. I get to be who I want to be, and you get to be who you want to be, right? If that’s what you want, to be who you want to be, then I get to be who I want to be."
Contino followed to ask the woman what she wanted to be, to which the Cheesecake Factory patron responded with an unexpected answer.
"I’m not a witch," the lady said. "You know what? Take your stupid dog, eat your f*cking food, and get the f*ck out of my life, okay? ‘Cause, otherwise, I’d have to label you a white racist. For a 70-year-old minority woman, you’re a racist. Do you want your rights? I want mine too."
After the woman leaves, the TikToker can be seen asking the waiter for the manager, who immediately apologizes for the treatment he received from the other customer.
The restaurant chain staff has made clear their disagreement with the situation.
"No guest should ever be made to feel unwelcome in one of our restaurants, and we are sorry to hear of this incident," Spero G. Alex, Vice President of Operations, told Narcity.