A shop owner is furious her landlord secretly hung an enormous Joe Biden banner over her store after sales plummeted in the conservative town.
Angie Monahan arrived at Honey Blossom Boutique, her women’s clothing shop in Lenoir City, Tennessee, on Saturday to find the 20ft by 10ft sign staring at her.
She said locals in the small town where Trump got 75 per cent of the vote in 2020, quickly started avoiding her business like the plague.
The signs reads ‘Biden-Harris – truth over lies’.
Monahan now keeps a gun in the store after receiving threats, and blames the banner on the upper floor of the building for a 50 per cent drop in sales.
‘I did not put this sign on my building!’ she wrote in a series of furious posts on the shop’s social media pages.
‘No one associated with Downtown or City would’ve done this. After an attempt on Trump’s life, this is just downright sick.’
Monahan insisted she would feel the same way if it was a huge Donald Trump banner, as she didn’t want her business to be seen as being political.
Desperate to get her sales back on track, she hung her own smaller sign reading ‘this business did not hang this sign’, with arrows pointing up.
Since then, and when word got around town, she said business picked up again and locals came in to show their support.
‘We are thankful for everyone coming together and supporting Honey Blossom Boutique as she DID NOT hang this above her business,’ local Facebook page Downtown Lenoir City wrote.
‘The building owner Ricky Miles placed it late at night after she closed without telling her anything. Please continue to shop at her store and invite friends to like her page as she needs our community support more than ever!’
Monahan said Miles was ‘adamant’ he would not remove the banner, despite the backlash and effect on Honey Blossom’s sales.
‘I had so many people commenting saying ‘I’ll never step foot in that business. This is how I make my livelihood,’ she told KBTX.
‘This is how my manager makes her livelihood, and I’ve spent seven years building this business. I can’t let one sign tear it apart.
‘Shopping is supposed to be fun and relaxing. It’s not supposed to be political. I just don’t make a stance one way or the other. If someone wants to ask my personal opinion, I don’t mind telling them, but that’s not good business.’
The issue caused a stir on local social media pages as though most people were on Monahan’s side, they didn’t want it turned into a political issue.
The Downtown Lenoir City page made a post reading: ‘This would be a distasteful act if it was a massive Trump or Biden banner. The issue is disrespect to our Downtown community and his own tenant.
‘He knows the community is upset and has refused to take it down. It is important to speak up because people are blaming the tenant assuming she placed it over her shop!’
Some followers took issue with the post as they felt it made the city and the downtown area look like it was actively supporting Trump.
‘I agree to all the sentiments about the huge banner being posted, but as a tenant I would also be upset if it was a Trump sign, or some local election sign regardless of affiliation,’ another business owner commented.
‘I just think the whole concept is bad for business regardless of the politics. People take politics seriously in Tennessee and we all have friends from both parties. I’d rather politics not be woven into business.’
City Administrator Amber Kelso said Miles was within his rights to hang the banner, as it was on his property and protected by the First Amendment.
‘We want to be careful because we don’t want to impede someone’s constitutional rights for freedom of speech,’ he told KBTX.
‘That would go for whether it’s a Biden sign or a Trump sign or whether it’s some other political sign.’