Washington Post
By Emily Heil
July 8, 2015
José
Andrés, the D.C.-based super-chef with a growing national brand, is
backing out of a deal to open the flagship restaurant in Donald Trump’s
forthcoming Washington
hotel – the latest on a growing list of high-profile partners to sever
ties with the presidential candidate over his anti-immigrant comments.
Andrés,
the co-owner of ThinkFoodGroup whose restaurant empire spans 18
restaurants and food trucks, multiple cookbooks and TV shows, described
the move in a statement
to The Washington Post as both a professional and personal one. The
Spanish-born chef, who became an American citizen in 2013 after living
in the U.S. for decades, frequently invokes his pride in being an
immigrant.
“Donald
Trump’s recent statements disparaging immigrants make it impossible for
my company and I to move forward with opening a successful Spanish
restaurant in Trump
International’s upcoming hotel in Washington, D.C.,” the statement
reads. “More than half of my team is Hispanic, as are many of our
guests. And, as a proud Spanish immigrant and recently naturalized American citizen myself, I believe that every human being
deserves respect, regardless of immigration status.”
A
spokesman for the restaurant group would not disclose the terms of the
lease Andrés had signed with Trump’s organization for the restaurant,
which was to open next year
in Trump’s $200 million redevelopment of the historic Old Post Office
Pavilion. But Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., e-mailed a response,
indicating that the contract was for 10 years and that the Trumps could
sue for unpaid rent and other damages — meaning
a potential lawsuit could prove expensive.
“Our
relationship with José Andrés has always been a good one, but simply
put, José has no right to terminate or otherwise abandon his obligations
under the lease, ” Trump
Jr. wrote. “In the event Mr. Andrés defaults in the performance of his
obligations, we will not hesitate to take legal action to recover all
unpaid rent for the entire 10 year term together with all attorneys’
fees and additional damages we may sustain. We
will also enforce the exclusivity provisions preventing Mr. Andrés from
opening a competing restaurant anywhere in the D.C area. Mr. Andrés’
obligations under the lease are clear and unambiguous. More importantly,
construction is ahead of schedule at Trump
International Hotel, Washington D.C. and when completed in 2016, will
be a crown jewel within the Trump Hotel Collection.”
Last
month, Trump set off an avalanche of criticism when he said of illegal
Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime.
They’re rapists.” Later,
the defiant GOP candidate doubled down on his stance. “I can never
apologize for the truth,” he said. Corporate partners have been bailing
on him in droves, and a change.org petition sprung up, asking Andrés to
join their ranks.
Andrés
has long championed immigration reform, penning a 2013 op-ed in The
Post calling on Congress to act on a long-stalled overhaul of the
nation’s immigration laws
and to support a so-called “path” to legalization for the millions of
undocumented workers in the U.S.
“The
fellow immigrants I’ve known and worked with over the years, those with
legal status and those without, are here for the right reasons,” he
wrote. “They don’t want
to cause any trouble, take any handouts or steal anyone’s job.”
The
partnership between Trump, the brash hotelier eager to find a boldface
toque with local credibility for his Pennsylvania Avenue complex, and
Andrés, a high-profile
chef with eateries sprinkled around the country, once seemed promising.
“‘I have long respected Donald Trump for his business acumen,” Andrés
raved in a news release touting the restaurant. Trump, in turn, called
him “a true culinary genius.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment