ST. LOUIS, Missouri — Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy hosted a private fundraiser at the Four Seasons in downtown St. Louis on Wednesday night after another restaurant said he was no longer welcome to solicit campaign contributions at their establishment.
The upstart campaign put a positive spin on getting pushed out of their initial event space.
"It's a win-win for the Ramaswamy campaign," deputy campaign communications chief Stefan Mychajliw told 5 On Your Side. "We were able to find another venue and actually interest spiked once this restaurant owner canceled on us."
The bio-tech billionaire's campaign was forced to find a backup venue after Olive + Oak, a Webster Groves restaurant, pulled the plug on his political fundraiser earlier this week.
Owners at Olive + Oak said when the campaign started using their company name and logo to advertise a political fundraiser, "We decided to cancel in an attempt to avoid getting in the middle of politics," an attempt they acknowledged was "clearly futile at this point."
The high-dollar fundraiser was closed to press and the public. Donors could purchase access to the event for $500 and had to spend $3,300 to attend a private dinner with the 2024 primary candidate. A small event space on the sixth floor of the Four Seasons was set up with a mini stage. A table was set for 10 to 12 guests inside a corporate board room off to the side.
High-profile political campaigns often host private fundraisers without publicizing the event location in order to create an air of exclusivity where candidates can mingle with their donors without the general public intervening or protestors disrupting them. When flyers started circulating with the business name alongside the campaign literature, management grew concerned they would not be able to adequately handle all the variables that might come from curious spectators or animated protesters.
Ramaswamy's campaign shrugged off any responsibility for the cancelation and instead accused the owners of ostracizing him because of his political views.
"Vivek literally wrote the book 'Woke, Inc.' on wokeism, cancel culture, and here he is the victim of being canceled in St. Louis," Mychajliw said.
"While we admit the politics of Mr. Ramaswamy don't align well with the vast majority of our employees and community, there were other issues involved in the decision to cancel," the owners at Olive + Oak said in social media posts.
"The event was described to us as a private, invite-only fundraiser. We subsequently discovered the event was being publicly promoted without our consent."
"I don't buy that for one second," Mychajliw said. "There's no question the owners felt heat and canceled Vivek Ramaswamy because he's a Republican running for President.
"They had no problem hosting a drag show for kids, but they have a problem with a conservative Republican, hosting an event for him."
Olive + Oak ownership defended their public stances raising awareness for LGBTQ+ issues and human rights.
Ramaswamy's brash style and unconventional notions have generated significant buzz for himself and attracted glowing praise from former President Trump.
Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, recently broke with the overwhelming majority of the Trump administration cabinet when he said he would have handled January 6 differently than Mike Pence did.
Later, he compared a Black Congresswoman to a member of the KKK, and this week, he said in lieu of affirmative action, he'd ask college applicants to run a mile and do some pushups to demonstrate their physical fitness.
His knack for drawing attention to himself earned a nod from former President Donald Trump, who said he'd make a "very good" Vice President.
Ramaswamy's campaign handlers declined to make him available for interviews with local press during this visit to St. Louis, citing his hectic travel schedule.