D.C. restaurant donates profits to charity after white nationalists trick it into hosting dinner

Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant in Washington, D.C. apologized this week and said that $10,000 would be donated to charity because it mistakenly hosted a dinner for white nationalists, which had been reserved under another name.

Over the weekend, protests broke out at the Maggiano's Little Italy location in Friendship Heights after celebratory images of white supremacists dining at the restaurant began appearing on social media. The attendees were members of the National Policy Institute, which The Daily Beast described as a "think tank" for white supremacists.

Former reality star Tila Tequila tweeted a photo of several members of the group giving a Nazi salute from inside the restaurant.

Washington City Paper reported on Monday that Maggiano's Little Italy had issued an apology for allowing the event to take place.

"On Friday night, Maggiano’s in Friendship Heights was the inadvertent site of a protest that caused us to close our restaurant to protect the safety of our Teammates and Guests," the restaurant explained in a statement. "The protesters were upset because of a banquet we were hosting for a group called the National Policy Institute (NPI). This was a last minute booking made Friday afternoon, and the reservation was made under a different name, therefore we were not aware that NPI was dining with us or what the group represents."

The statement noted that the restaurant was especially disturbed by the Nazi salute seen in Tequila's tweet.

"We want to sincerely apologize to the community of Friendship Heights for inadvertently hosting this meeting, which resulted in hateful sentiment," the statement added. "We want you to know that at the suggestion of one of our Guests, we are donating the profits from our restaurant sales on Friday, $10,000, to the DC office of the Anti-Defamation League, which for decades has been working to bring people together in peace and understanding."