A hat shop in Nashville, Tennessee, has come under fire after it rolled out an anti-vaccine patch modelled after the yellow stars forced on Jews during the Holocaust.
On Friday, the Instagram account of the store hatWRKS did not think twice before starting to promote its new item with a "strong adhesive back" featuring the words "Not vaccinated".
The post, which was later deleted, noted the badges were $5, promising that "we'll be offering trucker caps soon". What's more, the post contained a picture of hatWRKS owner Gigi Gaskin sporting the yellow patch.
Almost all netizens immediately hit out at what one user described as "one of the most disgusting displays I have ever seen".
"My grandparents' entire families were killed in the Holocaust. Their bodies incinerated. That's nothing like COVID precautions", another user tweeted.
In what appears to be retaliation against the shop's critics, the hatWRKS Instagram page has, meanwhile, posted a follow-up, wondering whether people are "outraged with the tyranny the world is experiencing", an apparent nod to the restrictive measures introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.