Olive + Oak Cancels Vivek Ramaswamy Fundraiser After Outcry

Tickets for dinner at the Webster Groves restaurant were as high as $3,300

Aug 28, 2023 at 1:35 pm

Vivek Ramaswamy at the 2022 AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona.

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will not be holding a fundraiser later this week at Webster Groves hotspot Olive + Oak, the restaurant announced today on social media.

The 38-year-old businessman and conservative author's campaign had advertised the event as "An Evening With Vivek Ramaswamy," including both a cocktail hour and a private dinner. For the low low sum of $3,300, attendees were offered not only that private dinner at one of St. Louis' top restaurants, but also a "phone call with Vivek" and a signed book. For $500, attendees could expect access to the cocktail hour and a keynote address.

A flyer for the event, which was to take place Wednesday night, started circulating on social media last week, with some expressing dismay that the beloved restaurant would host the conservative firebrand.

On Monday, the Instagram account for Olive + Oak events posted a message saying in part, "Our team did not fund, donate, or support this event, and it has since been cancelled by our accord. It's essential to ensure that the events we host reflect a balance of viewpoints that contributes positively to the ideals within our company."

The fiesty author of Woke Inc., Ramaswamy's profile has grown significantly since last week's Republican primary debate, during which he was the target of attacks from almost everyone else on stage. (Insults included being called an amateur and "a guy who sounds like Chat GPT.") However, polls show the political newcomer is doing better in the race than virtually all the others who were on stage lobbing insults at him.

At that debate, Ramaswamy declared, "The climate change agenda is a hoax." He more recently said that Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who is Black, is part of “the modern KKK" and has had to defend comments that seemed to suggest the 9/11 attacks might have involved federal agents (something he also believes about the January 6 Capitol riot).

But like anyone willing to make their name by stirring up controversy, Ramaswamy is seemingly everywhere these days. Would-be donors looking to get their fix can find him everywhere from The Breakfast Club to Real Time with Bill Maher. Too bad the food won't be nearly as good.

UPDATE: Olive + Oak issued an additional statement Tuesday afternoon saying that though "the politics of Mr. Ramaswamy don't align well with the vast majority of our employees and community," the restaurant's decision to cancel the candidate's fundraiser was due to reasons beyond that as well.

They said that the event was initially described to them as a private, invite-only fundraiser that would be held without any public promotion. The event's flier did end up including the restaurant's name and was circulated online.

Olive + Oak says they backed out of the event in an attempt to stay out of politics, an attempt they acknowledge has proven to be "clearly futile at this point." On social media, the restaurant seems to be getting condemnation and praise for the decision in roughly equal measure.