claim: Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay directed his entire staff to "take a knee" and refuse service to Miami Dolphins players over national anthem protests against police brutality.
origin: Fake news site TheLastLineofDefense.org claimed on 1 October 2017 that celebrity chef and star of Kitchen NightmaresÂ Gordon Ramsay aimed his notoriously biting rhetoric â€” typically reserved for fumbling new chefs â€” at Miami Dolphins players who had hoped to dine at one of his restaurants: < Gordon Ramsay Has His Entire Staff Take A Knee-Refuses To Serve Miami Dolphins Players Four Miami Dolphins showed up at Gordon Ramsayâ€™s Soho Social Gastropub for a bite to eat after their horrible performance and disrespect for our flag and our country. Linebackers Malcolm Warner and Clyde Vargus along with right guard Jefferson Michaels and left tackle Mutombo Toki Del Fuego were seated at a corner booth. Ramsay walked over and introduced himself, telling them that he had followed all of the drama on TV, and invited them to join him at the pass for â€œsomething special.â€ LLOD correspondent Cynthia Luwhoe, who was enjoying a French Dip at the time, reported in on what happened next: â€œRamsay had the entire staff gather at the pass and instructed them to take a knee. â€˜You are four of the most disrespectfrul young men Iâ€™ve ever met, said Ramsay, â€˜my staff is better than that; better than you. You wonâ€™rt be getting service here tonight. F*ck off with the lot of you.â€™â€ > The item caused a stir on social media due to a raging debate over professional football players â€œtaking a kneeâ€ during the national anthem to protest police brutality and Ramsayâ€™s well-known sharp tongue. Moreover, it appeared on the same day several Miami Dolphins players â€œtook a kneeâ€ before facing off against the New Orleans Saints in London, England: < Three Dolphins took a knee this morning: Julius Thomas, Michael Thomas & Kenny Stills. pic.twitter.com/Tr5z95yGjQ â€” Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 1, 2017 > However, Last Line of DefenseÂ is fake news site whoseÂ disclaimerÂ states: < DISCLAIMER: Americaâ€™s Last Line of Defense is a satirical publication that uses the imagination of liberals to expose the extreme bigotry and hate and subsequent blind gullibility that festers in right-wing nutjobs. We present fiction as fact and our sources donâ€™t actually exist. Names that represent actual people and places are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and do not in any way depict reality. > Given the popularity of Gordon Ramsay and topical widespread debate over NFL â€œtake a kneeâ€ protests, the story would have certainly made headlines were there any truth to it. But it was not reported by any credible news outlets and, like everything else on Last Line of Defense, the story is fictional.Â