California woman fired from job after MAGA hat flap
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A California woman who berated a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and encouraged others to “get this guy!” has been fired from her job.
The confrontation began Monday at a Starbucks, according to the man who identified himself to NBC Bay Area as Victor.
“This woman comes over and she says, ‘Is that a Trump hat?’ I said, ‘I think it is, yes,’” the man told NBC. He said she addressed the other Starbucks customers saying, “Hey, everybody. Come over here. Let’s get this guy! He’s a hater! I’m calling him out! He hates brown people. He’s a Nazi.”
The woman then threatened him on Facebook.
“Anybody in Palo Alto know this freak? He was sitting in a Starbucks. I think he lives in Palo Alto. He will never forget me and will think seriously about wearing that hat in my town ever again,” posted the woman who has been identified as Rebecca Mankey on a Facebook page Monday.
Gryphon Strings, the music store that had employed Mankey as a store manager and accountant for the past four years, issued a statement saying the owners “do not condone harassment or hate speech of any kind.”
“Music has historically been something that has brought people of diverse socio-political backgrounds together. We would like to make it clear that the opinions expressed and actions taken by the employee are not indicative of how we conduct ourselves at the shop,” the statement said.
For his part, Victor said he felt bad that Mankey had lost her job.