Photo by Diane Pappafotis.

Wikileaks’ release of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta has ensnared one unlikely victim—Comet Ping Pong, the Chevy Chase pizzeria.

Conspiracy theorists on sites like Reddit, 4chan, and Twitter began claiming, incredulously, that the popular restaurant and concert venue is at the center of a child sex trafficking ring for elite politicians shortly before the election.

The dubious evidence includes the fact that owner James Alefantis’ name kinda looks like the French phrase “J’aime les enfants,” which translates to “I love children,” and that the word “pizza” is allegedly a code word for something far more nefarious in the Podesta emails. (As Voat user Somnium9 wrote, “The Pieces of the Puzzle are in the Pizza!”)

Theorists also pointed to Alefantis’ connections to David Brock, a Democratic operative he used to date, and his placement on GQ’s list of the 50 most powerful people in Washington.

The theory received a “Pants on Fire” reading from Politifact. “We could find no evidence that such a network exists; there is definitely no evidence that the FBI has confirmed it,” the fact checking site writes.

Still, the attention has led to harassment and threats for Alefantis and his staffers. The people posting about the theory have seized on innocuous photos that employees and even people who “liked” Comet Ping Pong updates posted of their own children and began distributing them across the internet.

Now, Reddit has banned the “Pizzagate” community, after warning the group about its policy on revealing personal information.

“This subreddit was banned due to a violation of our content policy,” the landing page now says. “Specifically, the proliferation of personal and confidential information. We don’t want witchhunts on our site.”

This comes shortly after a New York Times article outlined the consequences of Pizzagate for the restaurant.

“I’ve done nothing for days but try to clean this up and protect my staff and friends from being terrorized,” Alefantis told the Times.

At least one protester has actually posted up outside. Another came to the restaurant during dinner and began shooting live video, per the Times. The business’s Yelp page has been one site of the battle, and remains under “active cleanup.”

D.C. Police write in a statement that they are “monitoring the situation and aware of general threats being made against this establishment. We’ve directed the staff to notify MPD should they receive specific threats or have concerns about their safety.”

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh is urging her constituents to stand by the pizzeria. “In light of recent vicious and baseless stories surrounding Comet Ping Pong reported by fake news outlets, I would encourage residents to use the upcoming ‘Small Business Saturday’ as an opportunity to support Comet Ping Pong and our other local businesses, especially those along that stretch of Connecticut Ave south of Nebraska Ave,” she wrote on a neighborhood listserv.

Unsurprisingly, Pizzagate believers are interpreting the Reddit ban as part of the conspiracy.

“The globalists are desperately lashing out,” writes Reddit user 333tttbbb in the Conspiracy subreddit. “We have them on the run. This is how we know pizzagate is big. If it didn’t scare them so much they wouldn’t react so drastically.”

Many supporters of the theory have continued the conversation on Voat, another website.

“It’s like trying to shoot a swarm of bees with one gun,” Bryce Reh, Comet’s general manager, told the Times.

Updated with comment from Councilmember Cheh.