Red Hen restaurants everywhere feel ramifications of Sanders incident

When it comes to the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, and the numerous establishments across the country that happen to share its name, birds of a feather don't always want to flock together.

Restaurants bearing some version of the Red Hen name are trying to distance themselves from the decision by one business to ask Sarah Sanders to leave, which prompted the White House press secretary to tweet during the weekend that she'd been shown the door "because I work for @POTUS." That notion, which the Virginia restaurant owner did not dispute, prompted a parade of detractors and supporters to pick up their phones and type blistering Yelp reviews targeting Red Hen restaurants regardless of city, state or even country.

The Red Hen restaurant in Washington, D.C., which sits in an upscale neighborhood of the nation's capital, attempted to clarify it had no connection to the controversy involving Sanders, tweeting Saturday that she had gone to an unaffiliated Red Hen, "not to our DC-based restaurant."

More than 4,300 replied, including multiple tweets calling on the restaurant to condone Sanders and the Trump administration's actions. The Red Hen answered the threats by defining "unaffiliated" as well as an explanation that it is illegal for businesses in the District of Columbia to discriminate against people because of their political views.