Furious debate erupts after a diner was asked to leave a woke Melbourne restaurant for supporting Trump

A patron of one of Melbourne’s top rooftop bars was almost booted out on Australia Day for wearing a red Make America Great Again hat.

Renewable energy wholesaler Angelo Notta, 45, visited St Kilda’s Captain Baxter bar and restaurant on Sunday night to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Mr Notta told Daily Mail Australia he visits the venue most weekends and estimated he’d spent more than $7,200 there in the last two months.

Despite having worn his MAGA hat at the bar five times previously, an employee on Sunday accused him of trying to ‘incite’ violence and asked him to remove it just 10 minutes after his group sat down. 

‘It was a really embarrassing approach. I’m a full-grown man and was being told by a 21-year-old to take my hat off because it’s political,’ Mr Notta said.

‘He came to our table and told me to take off the hat because the venue has a policy.

‘I’ve worn hats there several times before – I’ve worn hats more often than I haven’t.

‘I could just tell it was his opinion in politics and whatnot so he wanted me to take it off.’

It’s one of several MAGA caps he owns, which were given to him by a friend based in the US. 

Mr Notta claimed the employee was ‘condescending’ and ‘thought he had a lot of control and power’, adding to the humiliation.

‘He told me I needed to take it off and put it out of sight or I’d be evicted from the venue,’ he said.

‘I thought it was nonsense but my friend said to just take it off so it didn’t cause any more drama.

‘I ended up taking it off but my hair was all messed up, it ruined the rest of the day. I was only wearing the hat to cover a bad hair day.’

Security also approached the group a second time when one of Mr Notta’s friends tried on the MAGA hat, making them increasingly uncomfortable.

‘I wasn’t looking to incite anything or rustle any feathers – it’s just a hat I’ve got,’ Mr Notta said. 

‘It played on my mind all night and again when I woke up this morning.

‘I was annoyed and decided to send the venue an email. but then figured they’d ignore or delete it, so I sent it to 3AW – a Melbourne radio show – instead.’

While Mr Notta insisted he’s understanding and respectful of dress codes, he felt that he was specifically targeted by staff who opposed US President Trump. 

‘We wear hats to the Baxter every weekend, so that’s not the issue. On their website they say they don’t discriminate but it was complete discrimination to tell me off,’ he said.

‘There’s 150million people in America who have a hat like this. It’s not like I’m wearing a hat that supports terrorists or anything like that – this is the president of the United States.

‘What’s next now? You can’t wear your favourite football team’s colours?’

Mr Notta’s ordeal sparked a divisive reaction among Aussies on X.

‘Which bar? I want to go,’ one quipped.

Another added: ‘Yet we allowed some signs at protests in the city yesterday that were far more offensive.’

But many others leapt to the defence of the bar. 

‘I don’t have a problem with the hat but it was drilled into me from a young age to remove any hats when entering any sort of establishment. The same should apply here IMO,’ one man wrote.

Another added: ‘If someone wore this into my bar I would do the same – it’s my business, I can choose what offends me, my customers and what represents my values &all people need to feel safe and seen – it represents hate.’

A third wrote: ‘If you like America so much move there!’

On its website, Captain Baxter states the waterfront venue is a ‘place free from discrimination, where we respect and celebrate the diversity of our communities’. 

it is illegal to discriminate against a person due to their political views in Victoria. 

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Captain Baxter and operator Melbourne Hospitality People for comment.