Eddie Lester didn’t expect to lose the bartending job he loved over a Palestinian flag pin.

He and several colleagues said they enjoyed working at Bunny’s Buckets & Bubbles in Fells Point for its inclusive and lively culture — the type of place where a “Hi Gay” sign hung above the bar during Pride Month. Co-owner and chef Jesse Sandlin didn’t want the space to feel corporate. Although there was a dress code barring dirty or vulgar clothing, Sandlin encouraged staff members to bring their personalities to work.

But in early August, a one-star customer review that referred to the Palestinian flag pinned to Lester’s uniform as homophobic set off a chain reaction that led the eatery’s owners to remove seven members of their staff and implement a policy against endorsing potentially controversial politics in the workplace. Although Bunny’s ownership said on social media that these actions were part of an effort to make everyone feel safe at the restaurant, employees say it hurt the diverse and welcoming environment management once helped foster.

“It’s the antithesis of what we were led to believe Bunny’s was,” Lester said.

Bunny’s isn’t the only business grappling with how to manage politics in the workplace amid rising international tensions between Israel and Palestine. In April, Delta Airlines changed its employee dress code to allow only U.S. flag pins after a picture of workers wearing Palestinian ones received backlash, though the employees were not fired. The issue has also reared its head in schools, children’s programs, movie press tours and cultural institutions, as well as restaurants.

Lester was fired Monday after attending a protest over the weekend calling on Bunny’s ownership to reinstate a different staffer. Lester said he and that staffer were given an ultimatum by co-owner Matt Akman last Friday to remove their Palestinian flag pins or leave. While Lester complied, the other staffer refused.

At least a dozen people — some employees, some not — attended the protest outside the restaurant Sunday. It also aimed to raise awareness of the hardships faced by people in Palestine.

In a statement posted to Bunny’s Instagram stories Monday night, the eatery said a staffer quit after refusing to adhere to management policy about “divisive items in the workplace” and that employees who protested had “harmed Bunny’s reputation and ability to operate.” After the protest, five people were fired via text from Sandlin and a sixth was fired through a letter of termination she received when picking up a check Monday.

But Sandlin said Thursday the protest itself was not the reason for the firings. “Employees were terminated not for participating in a protest but for participating in a vulgar and intimidating display of aggression against the restaurant and it’s customers including shouting fuck ownership, fuck bunnys, yelling into windows at management calling them racist and intimidating guests,” she wrote in a text message to The Banner. Two former employees confirmed that swear words were chanted at the protest.

“Personally I was offended and incredibly hurt by the actions of the staff who participated whom I had considered close friends,” she said.

Sandlin declined to respond to further questions about the situation, but audio obtained by The Banner of an all-hands meeting with the remaining employees at the restaurant Tuesday revealed the owners felt their response to the initial negative review was a “knee-jerk reaction.”

“We absolutely fucked up on not sending a companywide message explaining everything,” co-owner Brian Acquavella said. The owners said they had received death threats and were considering hiring security for the restaurant.

Employees said during the meeting that they had not been told there was a policy against wearing “political, religious or potentially divisive messages while on duty,” as was referenced in Bunny’s social media statement. Some more recently hired workers also said they never signed or were given a clear dress code.

“That’s our fault as ownership,” Sandlin said, adding that paperwork had slipped through the cracks.

Workers added they felt their safety was at risk and they were “essentially left in the dark” by management as fallout over the Palestinian pin ensued.

Lester told The Banner he was pulled aside by his manager on Aug. 6 about the July 14 customer review. The patron had written in his review that his group was “deeply unsettled to see an employee displaying a symbol associated with regimes that uphold such hateful ideologies.”

Lester said his manager called the pin “political propaganda,” which the manager said was against a new dress code policy. Lester removed it for fear of losing his job, though he would later wear it again.

Server Ciera Washington, who joined the restaurant in 2024, said she did not hear about the new policy either. She was also surprised that there was concern over a customer’s bad review, considering patrons complained about the Playboy covers on the bathroom walls and the lack of high chairs, which had not elicited similar responses.

Impromptu staff meetings were held Saturday after a social media post about the Aug. 15 incident circulated. Bunny’s host Sydney Browne said just over 10 workers attended of the at least 30-person front-of-house staff. She said some context was provided about the employees’ removal and a dress code policy was brought up.

Browne, who has worn a cross necklace and DACA earrings before to work, asked whether that policy applied to Pride flags, which multiple co-workers wear. Akman said yes, according to Browne.

Washington said the protest held during her shift the next day invited counterprotesters. She said one of her tables shouted profanities at the protesters and made her feel unsafe. Browne and Washington both said multiple staff members walked out of the restaurant to participate in the protest during work.

Washington, who was fired, said she did not participate and only handed out water bottles. She, Browne and Lester said some workers who protested remain employed by the restaurant.

Browne said she wants the owners to speak out because she believes their “misleading PR statement and … refusal to say anything publicly in support of their workers” has led to people being harrassed and struggling to find work, which has resulted in a GoFundMe for those who were fired.

The controversy at Bunny’s comes at a time of heightened tension across the country as Americans brace for the impact of high tariffs and potential recession, among other sources of stress. “We’re in a politically charged time, and people are going to have amplified emotions,” restaurateur Tony Foreman said. “We all feel at risk.”

Foreman hasn’t shied from making political statements in his restaurants in the past. Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he hung a yellow-and-blue flag outside Milton Inn in Sparks, an act he said was meant to show solidarity with a Ukrainian-born employee. The restaurants he shared with Cindy Wolf long kept “Black Lives Matter” signs in its windows.

But Foreman said neither of those topics was as controversial as the Israel and Palestine issue. “It’s very complex,” he said.

The topic has long been a lightning rod in the U.S., Israel’s biggest funder and longtime ally. But it’s particularly divisive now as images of starving Gazans fill social media feeds and popular support for Israel erodes among Americans, particularly younger generations. Others are staunch in their support of Israel in a conflict that escalated when Hamas launched a massive surprise attack on the country on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Gaza health officials say that more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to the Associated Press.

The issue is so polarizing that nearly half a dozen Baltimore restaurant owners contacted for this story declined to comment. One Fells Point bar owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of attracting unwanted attention, said social media has turned up the volume on such conversations. ”People don’t know how to discuss things without making it personal anymore,” he said. “It’s too easy to get ugly.”

The owner said he agreed with Bunny’s approach to the conflict with its employees. “They are a business,” he said. “They have to be sensitive to what their customers’ wants and needs are.”

Another local restaurateur, who also wished to remain anonymous over concerns of upsetting personal business relationships, was less sympathetic to ownership and said it badly mishandled the controversy. “I don’t understand how your relationship with your employees gets this bad this quickly.” Though he’s overall a fan of the Fells Point eatery, he said he was following the Bunny’s saga as a cautionary tale on how not to respond to conflict with workers.

A few businesses in Baltimore have come out for the Palestinian cause and specifically for the employees fired from Bunny’s. At Common Ground in Hampden, employees have been confronted by customers and even faced threats for wearing pro-Palestine attire, worker-owners Nik Koski and Claud Casquarelli said in a statement.

“We stand in unwavering solidarity with the workers at Bunny’s and all working people who have faced retaliation for speaking out against the U.S.-backed genocide in Palestine,” they said.

The Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Bunny’s to apologize. “This mass firing is a blatant act of retaliation and an attempt to silence employees who chose to peacefully express solidarity with Palestinian human rights,” director Zainab Chaudry said.

Reactions similarly run the gamut online. Some customers on social media have vowed never to return to Bunny’s, while others have said they’ll rush to spend money there.

When Bunny’s reopened Wednesday at 5 p.m., things appeared to be business as normal. Customers flocked to the bar to take advantage of happy hour specials, including $8 fried chicken sandwiches. A football game played on the television.

And, for a moment, no one talked about politics.