By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders acknowledged Saturday in a tweet that she was booted from a Virginia restaurant Friday night because she works for President Donald Trump.

Sanders said she was told by the owner of The Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, that she had to "leave because I work for POTUS and I politely left."

Sanders said the event said far more about the owner of the restaurant than it did about her.

"I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so," Sanders said in the tweet from her official account, which generated 22,000 replies in about an hour.

Sanders' treatment at the restaurant created a social media commotion with people on both sides weighing in to provide their critique, including her father, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

"Bigotry. On the menu at Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington VA. Or you can ask for the 'Hate Plate,'" Huckabee said, quickly generating 2,000 replies in about 30 minutes. "And appetizers are 'small plates for small minds.'"

On Yelp, a reviewer of the restaurant from Los Angeles wrote: "Don't eat here if you're a Republican, wearing a MAGA hat or a patriot."

"12/10 would recommend. Bonus: this place is run by management who stuck up for their beliefs and who are true Americans. THANK YOU!!!!" said a reviewer from Commerce City, Colorado.

No one answered the phone at the restaurant. But the restaurant's co-owner gave an interview to the Washington Post in which she sought to explain her reasoning, and said she would ask Sanders to leave again.