- Credibility:
CHICAGO — The Holiday Club, which faced boycott calls a week ago after a co-owner posted anti-immigrant messages, is hosting a fundraiser to help migrant families.
All of the proceeds from fundraiser will benefit the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, which has been working to help reunite migrant families separated at the U.S. border, according to the Holiday Club.
The fundraiser announcement comes one week after one of the bar’s co-owners, Peter Malek, was widely criticized for sharing a Facebook post that mocked separated migrant families. Malek’s posts led to calls for a boycott of the club.
Malek said he would leave the Holiday Club to keep the bar and its employees from being hurt by his posts. The club’s co-owners said they were buying Malek out completely and had not been aware of his posts until the controversy.
Benjamin Greene, a co-owner of the Holiday Club, said the bar was a place of “acceptable for all.”
“Holiday Club has always supported and celebrated a culture of diversity and inclusion,” the bar wrote in the Facebook event for the fundraiser. “It is in that spirit that we would like you to join us in helping those suffering from the inhumane and cruel policies at our border.”
The fundraiser starts 6 p.m. July 11 at the bar, 4000 N. Sheridan Road.
