Overview
Gay Waitress Tipping Controversy refers to a hoax involving an alleged case of discrimination toward Dayna Morales, a lesbian waitress at the Gallop Asian Bistro restaurant in Bridgewater, New Jersey, who claimed that she was denied a tip from a family she had served because of her sexual orientation. However, shortly after the story spread across Facebook in late November 2013, the accused patrons stepped forward and debunked Morales’ claim with a bank statement supporting that they had actually tipped the server.
Background
On November 13th, 2013, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy Facebook page “Have A Gay Day” posted a photograph of a receipt sent from waitress Dayna Morales claiming that she did not receive a tip from a customer based on her sexual orientation. In the first two weeks, the post gained over 10,000 likes and 4,100 shares.
Notable Developments
News Media Coverage
On November 14th, Gawker[13] published an article about the Facebook post, which denounced the family for being bigoted. On November 15th, 2013, NBC New York broadcast a segment about the controversy, noting that Morales had been receiving large tips and donations due to the controversy (shown below).
In the coming days, several news sites reported that Morales began receiving an influx of donations and support following the publicized controversy, including CNN,[11] Today[12] and The Huffington Post.[14]
Hoax Revealed
On November 26th, NBC New York broadcast a follow-up segment reporting that the family had come forward providing proof that they had tipped the waitress and had not left a homophobic note (shown below). In the segment, the news station questioned Morales about the receipt, to which she claimed that the note was not left in her handwriting.
That day, several threads about the hoax reached the front page of Reddit[2][3][4] and it was reported on by various news sites, including The Daily Mail,[5] Mashable,[1]USA Today,[7] Fox News,[8] Gothamist[9] and CNN.[10] On November 27th, The Journal News[6] reported that ex-colleagues and friends of Morales had accused the New Jersey waitress of other lies, saying she claimed to have shaved her head after being diagnosed with brain cancer, that she served in Afghanistan during her career as a marine and that her home was severely damaged following hurricane sandy in 2012.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Mashable – Controversy Surrounds Gay Waitress Bigotry Claim
[2]Reddit – Family Says They did Tip Gay Server
[3]Reddit – Story About Gay Server Not Being Tipped Was a Fraud
[4]Reddit – That Waitress Who Claimed a Family Stiffed Her
[5]The Daily Mail – We would never leave a message like that
[6]Gothamist – Tip Server Lied About Having Cancer
[6]The Journal News – Waitress in tip tale
[7]Today – We tipped gay waitress, did not criticize her
[8]Fox News – Family says they tipped gay waitress
[9]Gothamist – Family Denies Stiffing Gay Waitress
[10]CNN– Restaurant investigating whether gay waitress really was denied tip
[11]CNN– Online donations pour in for waitress who was refused a tip because shes gay
[12]Today – Gay waitress denied tip for gay
[13]Gawker – New Jersey Restaurant Customer Refuses to Tip Gay Waitress
[14]The Huffington Post – Dayna Morales Gay Waitress And Marine Denied Tip Giving Donations To Wounded Warriors Project