Support for former President Donald Trump, “Karens,” and a famous “MAGA” dress added up to a “flag war” for one outspoken designer near Washington, D.C.
In 2017, one of Andre Soriano’s designs made red waves on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards when Joy Villa arrived wearing a “Make America Great Again” dress. Now, as similar designs were featured outside his store in Occuquan, Virginia, the business owner and his friend detailed to Fox New Digital that a Trump Derangement Syndrome-suffering local had the city council coming after them for GOP signs.
“I actually started a flag war here in Occuquan, Virginia,” the Filipino-born American explained to the outlet. “As an American citizen, as a First Amendment in our great nation, you can express yourself by putting your signs in your home and expressing who you are as an individual, whether it’s religion, whether it’s politics or anything that you feel, without harming anyone.”
“That’s just the freedom of artistic expression and being free in America, and nowadays, you can’t even express that,” the designer went on.
A video shared on TikTok by friend and activist Audra Johnson showed how the woman, whom they reported had called the police on them when she allegedly wouldn’t leave the business, was crying to the officer.
“I have a video of her hiding in a bush. I don’t know what she was doing,” she told Fox News Digital. “We always have them. We have a love of ‘Karens.'”
In the initial TikTok, Soriano could be heard telling the officer who encouraged the disparate parties to mutually agree to avoid one another, “This wokeism is real. The ‘Karens’ are real. They’re crying for nothing. Because of a sign. Come on.”
@andresorianoatelier A Karen came into my store DEMANDING I take down my Trump flags, Trump signs and my MAGA dresses, because she’s very offended. I stood my ground, she wouldn’t leave, then I have to call the Occoquan Police. Guess who got a trespassing ticket?! #karens #StoreDrama #FreedomOfSpeech #StandYourGround #maga #trump2024 #usa ♬ original sound – andresorianoatelier
During the exchange with law enforcement, the woman appeared to suggest she would be reaching out to the mayor, and in an update, Johnson reported that the offended party had gone to the city council which had decided to enforce a little-used law prohibiting the business to display political signs.
As a result, Soriano and Johnson, who reside in the apartments above the business, relocated the pro-MAGA displays and added more, only to report that the local government was coming after them for those as well.
@audraforfreedom Replying to @audraforfreedom ♬ original sound – Audra Johnson
“The reason I put my Trump dress outside is, so I don’t have to encounter [this],” Soriano told Fox News Digital as the pair reported that they had previously been victimized by women throwing stink bombs into the store and were screamed at with derogatory phrases.
“We’re just trying our hardest to not get fines we can’t pay,” Johnson told Fox News Digital as Soriano noted, “I’m an American designer. I am free to express and create whatever I want.”
Since his “Make America Great Again” dress for Villa, the designer who said he’d once worked for Miley Cyrus, Courtney Love, Rihanna, and Pharrell Williams, expressed that he remained blacklisted and worse.
“We had death threats,” he explained to the outlet. “There are a lot of celebrities in Hollywood that are very divisive and they didn’t really like President Trump.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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