Bookstore facing backlash for calling cops on woman who labeled Steve Bannon ‘trash’
A Virginia bookstore owner is facing a major backlash and boycott campaign after he phoned police because a woman called former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon a “piece of trash.”
The owner of Black Swan Books in Richmond, VA, Nick Cooke, says he called 911 on Saturday after a woman confronted Bannon in the store who was “simply standing, looking at books, minding his own business.”
A woman peacefully confronted Steve Bannon at Black Swan Books in Richmond, Virginia. The owner of the store called the cops on her. Siding with a white supremacist like Bannon is a terrible business model. I predict Black Swan Books will be out of business soon.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) July 8, 2018
A woman saw Steve Bannon in a VA book store. She took the opportunity to call him a “piece of trash.”Nick Cooke, the owner of Black Swan Books, called the police.Black Swan Books2601 West Main StRichmond VA 23220804.353.9476info@blackswanbooks.comhttps://t.co/uFqN8KZNhy
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) July 8, 2018
“I asked her to leave, and she wouldn’t. And I said, ‘I’m going to call the police if you don’t,’ and I went to call the police and she left,” Cooke told The Richmond Times-Dispatch. “We are a bookshop. Bookshops are all about ideas and tolerating different opinions and not about verbally assaulting somebody, which is what was happening,” he added.
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Following the Richmond Times publication, Steve Bannon began trending on Twitter with many people calling for a boycott of the store. Cooke was accused of siding with a “white supremacist.”
Black Swan Books was one of my favorite local, independent bookstores ... until they defended Steve Bannon and turned the store into a safe space for white nationalists. Bad move, Black Swan. You are now blacklisted. pic.twitter.com/hy5WHbx5Ox
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) July 8, 2018
Black Swan Books in Virginia must be called out immediately for siding with white supremacist Steve Bannon and calling cops on a peaceful woman for no good reason whatsoever. https://t.co/SJzLlPTWg1
— Ale (@aliasvaughn) July 8, 2018
Bannon, who reportedly grew up in Richmond, is the latest associate of President Donald Trump to be accosted in a public place. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was recently asked to leave a restaurant, while Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been confronted by protesters, due to their association with the administration.
