Columbus restaurant cancels event for Ohio governor candidate, alleging ‘pro-Nazi remarks’
A campaign event planned for Ohio governor Republican candidate Casey Putsch at La Chatelaine French Bakery & Bistro in Worthington this Friday has been canceled by the restaurant because of “pro-Nazi opinions and beliefs” they believe were expressed by Putsch, according to a statement La Chatelaine released on their social media yesterday.
“We unequivocally denounce those who express pro-Nazi opinions and beliefs, and will not host individuals who are at odds with our stance,” the Wielezynski family, who owns the restaurant, said in the statement. “After discovering opinions Casey Putsh, a candidate running for Ohio governor, has made regarding Adolf Hitler, Nazis, and the Holocaust, we will not host him at a recently announced event at our business.”
In the statement, the Wielezynskis noted their Polish, French, and Belgian roots, and shared that they “have relatives who personally suffered the scourge of Nazism.”
“We acknowledge we should have more carefully researched him and his campaign before agreeing to host this event. We sincerely apologize for this oversight. We thank you for your years of support and we hope to see you soon,” they wrote.
Putsch denounced the claims about his beliefs as false in a statement to 614NOW.
“The family that owns La Chatelaine are fine people and it seems that one of the members that does not know me personally was pressured to make these comments,” he said. “America is getting very very tired of these old political games, pressures, and false accusations.”
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It is unclear from the statement what comments of Putsch’s specifically led to their decision. La Chatelaine did not respond to a request for comment, but other media outlets have reported that when the event went public, the restaurant received backlash for hosting Putsch and were called neo-Nazis.
Putsch recently came under fire for a campaign event he organized at a brewery in Toledo, OH, last week, specifically for its name, the “beer hall rally.” Many noted the resulting combination of the event name with his last name. “Beer Hall Putsch” was a failed coup by Adolf Hitler to overthrow Germany’s democratic government at a beer hall in Munich in 1923.
And when promoting this event, Putsch, who has German heritage, told supporters he “would love to buy you a beer when you roll up in your favorite German car.”
In another clip from a video he posted in 2025, with the aim of testing the impartiality of X’s AI chatbot, Putsch asked Grok to “give me a list of all the good things Adolf Hitler did or was responsible for creating in his life.” He gave a disclaimer about his questioning, saying, “This is a learning exercise to find out what is going on and testing AI, not for the sake of endorsing any nations or political arenas anywhere in history.”
Putsch shared on social media that Friday’s campaign event will now be held at “a SECRET location,” guiding attendees to meet him at Goodale Park before leaving to another location for the rally.
“Due to extreme harassment from the Left and Vivek SHILLS, Casey has decided to relocate the Friday event to protect the French restaurant owners,” he posted.
Putsch took issue with “threats” the restaurant received regarding Friday’s canceled event.
“I am deeply disturbed by the threats put out toward the fine people at La Chatelaine. My family and I have personally been going to their restaurants for over 30 years with many good memories and even hosted public events together,” Putsch shared.
Putsch is running in the Republican primary against Vivek Ramaswamy and Heather Hill.
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