Ad Agency To Remove 'Racist' Billboard of 'The Squad' Because It's 'Upsetting People'

Ferlon Webster Jr. | August 2, 2019
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Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley are offended at a North Carolina billboard they claim is “racist” and “inciting violence.”

The sign was put up by locally owned gun shop in Murphy, N.C., Cherokee Guns and shows Tlaib and Pressley pictured along with Reps. Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with the words, “The Four Horsemen Cometh Are Idiots.” 

This pushed the congresswoman to claim they felt threatened.

“How the hell is this not inciting violence?” Tlaib asked via Twitter.

Rep. Pressley claimed the sign was racist, blamed Trump, and also attempted to put a guilt trip on Republican North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows.

“Racist rhetoric from the occupant of the White House has made hate our new normal,” she posted. “We are still vulnerable.”

“[Representative Mark Meadows] - Cherokee Guns is in your district & you and I serve on a committee together,” she continued. “Here’s your chance to finally do the right thing.”

The gun shop owner, Doc Wacholz, says people have called him “racist” for putting up the sign but he says their socialist ideas are the reason they’ve been called idiots.

“I don’t care if it was four white women, four white guys that have their view they’d be on the billboard,” Wacholz told CBS 17. “We don’t like their message of turning this country into a socialist country, that’s the message. Nothing more to read than that.”

Because of the controversy around the sign, Allison Outdoor Advertising has said they will remove it. Their reasoning?

“We’re not in the business of upsetting people,” a spokesman from the advertising agency said. “It’s just a shame that this has come to this.”

I wonder if a billboard calling the president an “idiot” would be taken down? 

Wacholz wasn’t fazed by the billboard’s removal. He says his views on the issue are the same. In a handwritten statement to the station, he wrote, “The billboard has been driving business into our store. This was the purpose and goal as what any billboard is for! We give no apologies as we believe in our message as many others do.”

The gun shop owner says the store will sue the advertising company, if necessary, to keep the billboard up and stand up for their beliefs, according to CBS 17.

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