A billboard advertising a gunshop in western North Carolina that targeted four Democratic congresswomen as “idiots” and “the 4 horsemen” is being removed after facing backlash, CNN reports.
The sign for Cherokee Guns shows Democratic Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), who have been nicknamed “the Squad” in Congress. The sign says “The 4 Horsemen Cometh,” a reference to the apocalypse in the Bible, but “cometh” is crossed out and replaced with “are idiots.”
The store’s owner, Doc Wacholz, said he picked the lawmakers because of “their message of turning this country into a socialist country.”
{mosads} “I don’t care if it was four white women or four white guys that had their view — they’d be on the billboard,” he told local television station WTVC.
However, the billboard is being removed, and a replacement has already been designed, Danny Coleman, a salesman for the billboard company Allison Outdoor Advertising, told CNN. Wacholz changes the billboard approximately once every three weeks, but this sign has been up since Tuesday, the network reported.
“It broke our hearts that the controversy happened. Freedom of speech is a right. Unless it is something illegal or offensive, we use our best judgment and let it go. It is tragic what happened. He has been a great client of ours for a while, he just has his beliefs,” Coleman said.
Tlaib denounced the billboard in a tweet last week, asking “How the hell is this not inciting violence?”
Pressley called on Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), whose district is home to the gun store, to “do the right thing” and address the “#Racist rhetoric from the occupant of the @WhiteHouse.”