Let’s rewind. On what was supposed to be a quiet campaign stop, J.D. Vance arrived at Primanti Bros. in North Versailles to meet with supporters, smile for some selfies, and grab one of their famous sandwiches. But the moment he stepped out of his motorcade, the manager on duty took it upon himself to enforce an unexpected ban on campaign stops, allegedly telling Vance, “This isn’t a campaign stop, and J.D.’s not allowed in here.”
While the manager might have thought he was protecting the restaurant from becoming a political battleground, what he did instead was spark a political and PR catastrophe. Videos of the incident went viral, and before the sandwich could hit the griddle, #BoycottPrimanti was trending. What followed was a conservative-led boycott that wiped out nearly $50 million in sales overnight, three major sponsors pulling out, and now, a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in Pittsburgh District Court, accuses the manager—who remains unnamed for privacy reasons—of gross negligence, defamation, and the intentional destruction of a Pittsburgh institution. In the complaint, Primanti Bros. claims that the manager’s actions directly led to the chain’s financial collapse, loss of major sponsorships, and irreversible damage to their 90-year-old legacy of fries-stuffed sandwiches.
