Controversy
Thai Noodle House makes national waves after owner posts inflammatory messageabout Sandy Hook
As the crisis was unfolding at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on Friday — where a man shot and killed 27 people, 20 of whom were children — the owner of local Thai Noodle House posted an inflammatory Facebook message in response.
Eddie Nimibutr, who is the chef and owner of Thai Noodle House off of Guadalupe near the University of Texas campus, posted a Facebook status update that decried sympathy for the Sandy Hook victims. Nimibutr posted that he had received threatening phone calls after posting the message, which has since been deleted.
“I am failing to give a damn about the CT shooting,” Nimibutr said on Facebook. “I don’t care if a bunch of white kids got killed.”
Nimibutr’s post also criticized media coverage of minority groups and recent military strife in the Gaza Strip.
“When kids from minority groups get shot, nobody cares,” Nimibutr said. “When Israel launched missiles at the school in Gaza, everybody was too busy jerking off.”
The post went viral across local media, including Austinist, which published a screenshot of the post. On Monday afternoon, Gawker picked up the story as well, detailing Nimibutr’s multiple, equally provoking attempts to follow-up.
“I am pretty much sick of some people telling me what to think, how to think, or how to feel today, and if you don't like my foods, fuck off and eat someplace else,” Nimibutr posted Friday night.
CultureMap food writer RL Reeves, Jr. attempted to contact Nimibutr at the restaurant, but was informed that Nimibutr was not the owner and was no longer working at the location. But Reeves points out that in a search of local LLCs, Nimibutr is indeed listed as the owner of Thai Noodle House. Reeves posits that the obfuscating phone exchange was “a bit of damage control.”
On Sunday afternoon, however, Nimibutr posted what appears to be a parting message on his Facebook: "I think It's time for me to get out of this city for awhile for a nice hike down south."
