Krystal Lake recently caused outrage on social media sites for wearing her “America Was Never Great” hat while on the job at a Home Depot in Staten Island, New York (video below).
Lake’s cap, a play on the “Make America Great Again” slogan of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, went viral on the web this week, prompting praises and threats.
“The point of the hat was to say America needs changing and improvement,” the 22-year-old woman told the Staten Island Advance. “I don’t think it’s a positive message to say, ‘Let’s look to the past.'”
Lake was surprised when a picture of her wearing the hat at Home Depot on May 14 took off on the Internet.
“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,” Lake recalled. “I was honestly shocked. I didn’t expect any of this to happen.”
Lake added that she did not get in trouble for wearing it.
Home Depot spokesman Stephan Holmes told the news site: “We appreciate and understand the concerns of our loyal customers. In terms of the message, our associates are not permitted to wear items that reflect political statements. Unfortunately, no one on our management team saw her wearing the hat — otherwise, they would have had her remove it immediately.”