Montana bar owner says she isn’t racist after ‘Ch*nk Flu’ comment

A Montana bar owner is claiming she isn’t racist in response to comments she made during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Holly Tinch, owner of Holly’s Road Kill Saloon in tiny McLeod, Montana, referred to COVID-19 as “ch*nk flu” at the start of the pandemic. Since then, she has received criticism for her comments.

KTVQ interviewed Tinch who has pushed back against the allegations. Tinch told KTVQ she feels that her critics need to get over comments she made nearly three years ago.

“I’m not a racist person at all. And if you think that I am, that’s your problem not mine,” she said.

In a recent Facebook post, she said noted that she was just calling it “like I see it.” She also noted that the she had deleted her old comments on her page about the “Ch*nk flu.” She also thanked her critics for increasing Google searchers for her bar.

Chris Girardot of Billings, Montana, does not believe people should be asked to “get over it.” Girardot, who was adopted from South Korea, told KTVQ he was one of the people who called Tinch out.

“You can see that I’m of Asian descent. And I’ve been in fights in high school because I was the only brown kid. So, yes, I took offense to that,” he told KTVQ.

The bar is receiving several negative reviews on Yelp. Tinch won’t back down.

“And I’m going to stand by my First Amendment [rights] and my Second Amendment and the rest of them,” she told KTVQ.

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