#1105 - Michael Hunter

Joe Rogan (0:03)

Four, three, two, one. Hello, Michael.

Welcome. Thanks, man. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for coming in.

Michael Hunter (0:09)

100 percent, man.

Joe Rogan (0:11)

People don't know the story. We'll give them the brief synopsis. I found out about your story online because there was this viral thing that was going on about a chef who was getting protested by a bunch of animal rights activists and vegans, who decided to camp out in front of your business and try to a restaurant called Antler in Toronto. Try to, I don't know what the fuck they were trying to do, but you decided to butcher a leg of deer in front of them, and it became this horrific thing. Like, how could you do that in a place that serves meat? How could you prepare the meat right in front of them? Like, how did this all get started?

How did it become such a crazy viral story?

And why were they mad at you when there's a million other restaurants around you?

Michael Hunter (1:00)

All right, so it started in about December.

Joe Rogan (1:03)

Clue number one, possibly Canadian.

Michael Hunter (1:08)

The crazy Canadian.

Joe Rogan (1:09)

Besides being nice.

Michael Hunter (1:10)

Well, that's why it went viral, because I wasn't being nice. I wasn't the stereotypical Canadian.

Well, you weren't even being mean. You were just doing your job in front of them. So they started in December, and they really...

Joe Rogan (1:22)

Try to keep this right in front of your face.

Michael Hunter (1:24)

Okay, they really got pissed off with our... We have a little chalkboard sign out front.

I'll give you the con... We have a 45-seat restaurant. So we're a small... I have one business partner who's my best friend and family friend. And we had a little chalkboard sign out front that said, Venison is the new kale. And we get cute with our sign. We tease other restaurants around us. Like, we have fun with the sign. And it's fun.

And the cyclist, Vegan, rode by and took huge offense to our sign.

And all of a sudden, one day, these protesters just showed up. So originally, I was just kind of frustrated because they're totally misguided because we take a lot of pride in where our food comes from. We have vegan and vegetarian dishes on the menu. And I really respect that type of diet.

So we were just totally floored with why this was happening. And so this started to go on. They'd started to come every week. And they went from two or three people being kind of peaceful to being like 10, 15 people not so peaceful. So it's when it turned not so peaceful, they were shouting at our guests and shouting in our door and really trying to harm our business that I just kind of got fed up. Last resort went down. We get a whole deer a couple times a month and we butchered ourselves. And I just said, screw it, screw it. I'm like, I'm gonna get these people to get out of here. So I thought that that would make them go away.

Joe Rogan (2:53)

How did you think that was gonna make them go away and not escalate it?

Michael Hunter (2:56)

I don't know. It was just totally like last resort, totally fed up. I wanted to defend myself, defend our customers. You could see people walking in visibly upset. They're being shouted at, being screamed at, called a murderer as they're walking in for dinner. Like you're going on a date, you wanna have a nice time, and then people are screaming at you just for eating.

So I was just fed up, and I just kinda thought like, you know, buzz off.

Joe Rogan (3:22)

And why, so just one sign. Medicine is the new kale, one sign.

Set this whole thing off.

Michael Hunter (3:30)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (3:32)

And you're surrounded by restaurants. I mean, I know where you are.

Michael Hunter (3:35)

So we're surrounded by restaurants. There's an actual butcher shop across the street, and if you go in, there's like whole cattle hanging.

Joe Rogan (3:42)

That's okay.

Michael Hunter (3:42)

In their butcher shop, yeah.

Joe Rogan (3:43)

But you're a problem with your comparison to kale. You attacked their sacred kale.

Michael Hunter (3:49)

We're promoting meat. I don't know.

Joe Rogan (3:52)

That's totally bizarre. Cause you were promoting it?

Michael Hunter (3:54)

We were promoting it or?

Joe Rogan (3:55)

On the sign. So you just didn't promote anything, and they were allowed to cycle by and dream of broccoli without any interference.

Michael Hunter (4:05)