An Aspen business has been blistered with criticism on Facebook to Yelp over an exchange last week with a customer who told national media outlets that she was refused service because she supports President Donald Trump.
The owner of , however, insisted that her business practices were falsely portrayed by Aspen resident Katie Richter when she was interviewed Saturday on “Fox & Friends,” whose website introduced the story with the headline: “Company refuses to frame photo for Trump supporter.” The account gained traction with Fox News and was picked by other conservative news outlets.
After the story went viral, hateful comments filled the Suitable for Framing pages on Facebook and Yelp. Yelp posted a notice on the page Monday saying it would remove comments generated by news coverage of the business — both positive and negative — rather than personal experience with the business.
Kris Coulon, the store owner, said she wasn’t interviewed by Fox and Friends so she could share her account of what happened. Coulon told the Aspen Times that Richter wanted her to frame what appeared to be invitations to a Trump inaugural ball, but the invitations were water damaged and beyond repair so they could not be professionally-framed or packed with the photos.
龱ٱ to the Aspen newspaper in which she accused Coulon of intolerance, compared her situation to the who refused to prepare a wedding cake for a same-sex couple and criticized the newspaper for not publishing her story.
“Can you imagine what people would be screaming if this was President Obama’s inauguration? ‘Bigot!’ And ‘Racist!’ That is what they would label this store owner. And hey, what happened to all these women in our country who supported that silly Women’s March? I thought we were #StrongerTogether, and uniting all women to help stand against inequality and discrimination. Hm. I wonder why this lady felt I was inferior to her and denied my business?”
For more on this story or to read the full text of Richter’s letter, visit .
