A report about a zero-tolerance policy at Goodyear has prompted a fiery backlash from the president of the United States against an American company.
“Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS,” President Donald Trump tweeted. “Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!).”
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A photo circulated on social media showed a slide that was allegedly presented during a “diversity training” at the tire store. The slide listed “Black Lives Matter (BLM), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride,” under “Acceptable.” While “Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, MAGA Attire, Political Affiliated Slogans or Material,” were listed under “Unacceptable.”
The initial report came out of Topeka, Kansas where the training took place. The employee who took the photo sent it to local media and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“If someone wants to wear a BLM shirt in here, then cool. I’m not going to get offended about it. But at the same time, if someone’s not going to be able to wear something that is politically based, even in the farthest stretch of the imagination, that’s discriminatory,” said the employee, according to WIBW.
“If we’re talking about equality, then it needs to be equality. If not, it’s discrimination.”
Goodyear, which was founded in 1898 and is based in Ohio, released a statement on Twitter saying that the “visual in question was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate, nor was it a part of a diversity training class.”
“Yesterday, Goodyear became the focus of a conversation that created some misconceptions about our policies and our company,” Goodyear tweeted. “Goodyear has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so.”
Replies on the Twitter statement were disabled.
The president doubled down on his criticism at a press conference saying he was “not happy” and accused the company of “playing politics.” He also said that he would be in favor of removing the tires from the presidential limousine.
Goodyear employs 62,000 people and is the country’s best known American-made tire company. Its stock price fell more than 3% following the president’s tweet.
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