An Oklahoma donut shop was recently targeted in a second attack apparently inspired by it hosting a drag queen event last month. Surveillance footage from the most recent attack shows the suspect smashing the door with a baseball bat then lighting and throwing a Molotov cocktail inside. They reportedly left homophobic fliers behind.
A local news station reports that the suspect is a male who was wearing a “red hat.” Online commentators believe it’s actually a MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat.
The attack on the Donut Hole in Tulsa, Oklahoma comes amid a significant increase in hateful attacks on the LGBTQ community. Transgender people and drag queens have been singled out for much of this abuse, which is leaping from the internet to legislation and into violence.
Earlier in the month, someone smashed windows at the Donut Hole.
Some are frustrated with reports that seemingly go out of their way not to call out conservatives for the increase in hateful bigotry.
KOTV appears to have invoked some of this frustration with its report about the vandalism on the Donut Hole. The station reported that a man in a “red hat” was caught on surveillance footage vandalizing the shop.
“Man in ‘a red hat’ firebombs a Tulsa, Oklahoma donut shop after it hosts a drag queen event,” @MikeSington tweeted, along with a clip from KOTV’s report.
“We all know that it’s no ordinary red hat, but a MAGA hat!” replied @ArjunPatel20.
Others also insisted that the hat isn’t merely red, and images of it do line up with a MAGA cap for sale online.
Many pointed to the hateful rhetoric that online personalities and right-wing figures have directed at LGBTQ people and drag shows in recent months.
Rachel Vindman, whose husband is the whistleblower who revealed Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for dirt on President Joe Biden, commented, “My, oh my, where would he get the idea drag shows are bad? I wonder…”
