Alyssa Cappello put up a GoFundMe for Taste of Italy after her Facebook comment about a dead kid blew up. The Latham Shoppes spot saw sales crash over 60 percent. Protests started outside. Regulars quit coming. Fake orders piled up.
The post went up under the restaurant account. It called Islam a horrific fake religion and a terror group. It said the family of 7-year-old Harbe Nagi would have killed him if they lived in a Muslim country. Harbe died in Menands.
Frank Cappello first told CBS6 Albany someone in his circle wrote it. Alyssa later admitted off camera she did it. She thought she was on her personal page. She called it an angry outburst. She said the family is not racist.
Small groups kept showing up at the restaurant. Social media lit up with boycott calls. The place shut down for a bit. Alyssa also runs She’s Yar Lash & Beauty Bar spots in the Capital Region. Those got hit with harassment and fake bookings too.
Her GoFundMe is titled Help our family and businesses recover from crisis. She says payroll, rent and bills need covering. She frames it as saving their American dream after a mistake and a pile-on by critics.
Taste of Italy sat in the Latham Shoppes. The comment tied to news of the boy’s death. Revenue tanked from cancellations and lost customers. Alyssa posted the apology after the backlash hit hard.
The fundraiser asks for help keeping the doors open. She owns the lash places with the same family. The whole mess started with that one post under the restaurant name.
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