Local villain: Co-owner of Tampa’s Nocturnal Hospitality Group gets violent and racist on Instagram, has to step down

Lanfranco Pescante’s Instagram post. He seems a little too eager to kill, and waaaay more concerned about the flag than the old man.

Crazy times like this often lead to rising tempers, and rising tempers sometimes lead to career-limiting moves on social media. Case in point: Lanfranco Pescante, co-owner of Tampa’s Nocturnal Hospitality Group (which owns Franklin Manor, Osteria, Mole y Abuela, Mision Lago Estate, and Shibui), went a little too far on Instagram. It’s one thing to defend the flag and old man who got hurt carrying it at a protest, and it’s another thing to go completely unhinged about it on social media and call for people to get shot:

Pescante wrote all this in an argument with the Instagram account @officialthebody, whose posts have been in support of protesters and pointing them to resources.

It didn’t work out well for him. Here’s what Carlos “Carlos Eats” Hernandez — one of my go-to guys for local news — posted soon after:

• WFLA: Franklin Manor co-owner steps down after ‘just shoot them all’ comment about protesters
• Creative Loafing: Co-owner of Tampa’s Nocturnal Group apologizes after violent and racist comments surface online [UPDATE: Lanfranco Pescante has stepped down]
• Tampa Bay Times: Co-owner of Franklin Manor, other Tampa restaurants steps down after his posts spark outrage

The Tampa Bay Times article is worth it, just for the new ironic twist that Pescante’s t-shirt in his file photo provides. It just begged for a caption:

Thanks to Roberto Torres for the find!