Chili's had planned to donate 10% of its customers' checks on April 7th to the National Autism Association, an organization that claims vaccines "trigger or exacerbate autism in some, if not many, children." This evening, Chili's announced it will be canceling the event based on feedback received from its guests.
Here's the full statement from Chili's, posted to the company's blog:
Chili's is committed to giving back to the communities in which our guests live and work through local and national Give Back Events. While we remain committed to supporting the children and families affected by autism, we are canceling Monday's Give Back Event based on the feedback we heard from our guests.
We believe autism awareness continues to be an important cause to our guests and team members, and we will find another way to support this worthy effort in the future with again our sole intention being to help families affected by autism. At Chili's, we want to make every guest feel special and we thank all of our loyal guests for your thoughtful questions and comments.
We applaud Chili's for its decision.