Staten Island Woman Who Wore Anti-Trump Hat To Work Claims She's Received Death Threats
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman who works for a Home Depot on Staten Island claims she received death threats after a picture of her wearing an anti-Donald Trump hat went viral.
SILive.com reported 22-year-old Krystal Lake of St. George wore a "America Was Never Great" hat to work on Sunday. Someone snapped a picture of Lake wearing the hat that's a spinoff of Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan and it went viral.
"The point of the hat was to say America needs changing and improvement," Lake told SILive.com. "I don't think it's a positive message to say, 'Let's look to the past.'"
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Lake said her friends reached out to her Wednesday to check her social media accounts after the photo went viral.
"Everyone kept asking me if I was on Facebook or Twitter, which I hadn't been, and then I saw how many people were sharing [the picture] and that it was going viral," she said. "I was honestly shocked – I didn't expect any of this to happen."
Lake, who is a Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter, said she received dozens of death threats.
"People have been saying really racist things to me and that they're going to come and find me, and that what I said is disgraceful and I hate America – but I don't hate America," she told SILive.com. "I know there are a lot of opportunities here. I just wish we would worry about making America better – not 'great again.'"
Lake said she saw fellow co-workers wearing pro-Trump pins.
"For the past two months, there have been a few people I work with wearing 'Vote for Trump' pins on their uniforms," she said. "But no one ever says anything to them."
Home Depot said Lake's hat does not reflect the opinions of the company.
"We appreciate and understand the concerns of our loyal customers," company spokesman Stephan Holmes told SILive.com. "In terms of the message, our associates are not permitted to wear items that reflect political statements."
Holmes continued, "Unfortunately, no one on our management team saw her wearing the hat – otherwise, they would have had her remove it immediately.
Lake said she will definitely wear the hat again despite the threats.
