Mayor Mitch Landrieu Was Not Actually Booed Out of Two Legendary NOLA Restaurants

Back in late May, The Hayride — a right-wing website that brands itself as “Southern politics and culture” — gleefully reported that New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was greeted with an eruption of boos when he entered legendary Mid-City restaurant Mandina’s. The Hayride was so enamored with the news that the website offered to send t-shirts to any readers who sent in video of Landrieu being booed out in public.

Today, however, NOLA.com published their report of looking into this supposed incident — and found it to be definitively false. Restaurant owner Cindy Mandina confirmed to the website that Mayor Landrieu was met with some negativity, but it was nothing like any kind of boo eruption. “It’s fake news,” Mandina told the website.

Here’s what really happened at Mandina’s, says the owner: Landrieu approached a fellow patron with an outstretched hand; the patron refused to shake said hand, and told the mayor he did not agree with his politics. Mandina says there was no yelling, and that there was not a scene. “That was it,” she told the site.

The site notes that the Hayride news item was published in the wake of the removal of Confederate monuments. This same post asserts that Landrieu was also booed out of Clancy’s in uptown, which NOLA.com also found to be false.