A hat shop within the US state of Tennessee was hit with backlash on Saturday, sooner or later after selling a yellow star patch like these worn by Jews in Nazi-era Germany, labeled “not vaccinated.”
It was the latest skirmish in the culture war surrounding Covid vaccination in the United States, which has suffered the highest death toll of any country in the pandemic.
Iconic American hatmaker Stetson said Saturday it would no longer do business with the Nashville shop HatWRKS, which was excoriated on social media and targeted by protesters.
On Friday, HatWRKS shared on its Instagram account a now-deleted photo announcing the arrival of the $5 patches. It showed a woman, reportedly the business owner, wearing a yellow Star of David with the message “not vaccinated” on her black T-shirt.
“Your Nazi star badges are maybe probably the most offensive, anti-Semitic factor I’ve ever seen,” one user posted on the business’s Facebook page, summing up the social media outcry in response to the post, while others used the hashtag #HATEWORKS.
Local media showed a few dozen protesters outside the shop on Saturday, including some who held up a banner declaring “No Nazis in Nashville!”
And Stetson, identified for its Western hats, mentioned on Saturday that “on account of the offensive content material and opinions shared, Stetson and our distribution companions will stop the sale of all Stetson merchandise to HatWRKS in Nashville.”
The business, which regularly posted content on social media expressing views against coronavirus restrictions and Democratic President Joe Biden, replaced its controversial post with another one addressing its critics.
“People are so outraged by my post? but are you outraged with the tyranny the world is experiencing?” it mentioned. “in case you don’t perceive what is occurring, that’s on you, not me.”
The HatWRKS controversy came the same week that Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene repeatedly equated Covid mask mandates with Nazis forcing Jews to wear yellow stars.
“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” the freshman Republican from Georgia tweeted a few enterprise making its workers who’re absolutely vaccinated against the coronavirus put on a vaccination emblem on their title badge.
She was sharply criticized by leaders of each political events.
Biden on Friday deplored current anti-Semitic assaults within the United States, saying in a press release: “We can not permit the poisonous mixture of hatred, harmful lies, and conspiracy theories to place our fellow Americans in danger.”
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