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South Philly Barbacoa featured on ‘Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’

TBS's Full Frontal with Samantha Bee aired a Philly-filmed segment this week focusing on undocumented restaurant workers, and South Philly Barbacoa's Cristina Martinez made an appearance.

Samantha Bee, host of "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee."
Samantha Bee, host of "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee."Read moreMyles Aronowitz / TBS

TBS's Full Frontal with Samantha Bee aired a Philly-filmed segment this week focusing on undocumented restaurant workers, and South Philly Barbacoa's Cristina Martinez made an appearance.

Bee popped up in Philly last month, when she was spotted filming an interview with District Attorney Larry Krasner at the Franklin Inn Club in Center City. However, she also stopped by South Philly Barbacoa in the Italian Market, where she and a crew filmed the undocumented restaurant workers segment. Krasner does not appear in the segment, which aired Wednesday.

Throughout the clip, Martinez, an outspoken advocate of rights for undocumented workers in the restaurant industry, tells Bee about her decision to leave Mexico as a result of domestic abuse, how chefs can change the world, and why she would still welcome President Donald Trump into her eateries.

"I'm not afraid to talk about the platform that chefs have because we have the power to change the system," Martinez said. "We, as chefs, have a direct platform that is so big."

Bee also spoke with several unidentified undocumented restaurant workers in the area about the discrimination they have faced as a result of their employment.

"It is scary to talk to your boss," one said, "because when you want to defend yourself, they look for ways to fire you."

To cap the segment, Bee set up an interview with Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, who is a noted critic of the Trump administration's policies toward undocumented immigrants.

Full Frontal is also currently selling t-shirts to raise money for The Giving Kitchen, an Atlanta, Georgia-based non-profit that works to provide financial aid to restaurant workers.