Why a bar manager says he posted, then deleted, this controversial message

Days after a controversial sign was posted outside a longtime Lake Worth Beach bar, the general manager has removed it.

“You know, this sign is supposed to be humorous, and I thought it was just another humorous sign, but apparently it struck a chord,” said Harry’s Banana Farm General Manager Lou De Stout.

The sign read, “How can you miss such a swollen head?” in reference to former President Donald Trump and Saturday’s assassination attempt.

De Stout called the sign a free speech issue.

“To be honest with you, I create the panel and I try to make it current, topical, humorous and do it in 10 words or less,” De Stout said. “I stick to the topic of the day and as soon as it got to Trump, I knew that was the only topic that everyone was going to be talking about for the next two weeks.”

He said his sign was up for less than 24 hours and the bar received multiple threats of violence and arson, demanding he close the establishment, as well as countless negative reviews on Yelp, which he said shut down his business profile.

“After a while I thought… I can’t accept that my staff is being threatened for the things that I do, it’s not fair to them,” De Stout said. “Some of them are young girls. They have young children, and the staff is great here and I didn’t want to put them in danger.”

Located along US Highway 1, Harry’s Banana Farm was established in 1954 and is known for having a variety of signage.

De Stout said last month he had a sign mocking President Joe Biden.

The bar has now replaced the controversial Trump sign with one that reads: “Yeah for Trump, so happy for him, you happy fools.”

“I like signs that make people laugh, but I don’t like signs about our president,” said Rocco Talarico of Palm Beach Island.

Talarico is a Trump supporter and said he saw the sign that was on display Monday.

“Every time I go through here I get knots in my stomach, it’s disgusting what they put up all the time,” Talarico said. “Every time something happens they put up a sign. I’m totally against it.”

The compromise, Talarico said, would be to stop displaying signs about Biden, Trump and any other president.

“That’s just the way it is. It doesn’t condone violence or anything like that, so to me it doesn’t offend me,” said Christopher Westcott, owner of Harry’s Banana Farm.

He said the signage did not prevent him from going to the bar for a drink.

“I think some people take things too personally, freedom of speech is freedom of speech,” Westcott said. “I don’t agree with everyone’s political views here, but who cares? I’m not here to talk politics.”

Trump supporters were present outside Harry’s Banana Farm on Tuesday, saying they planned to gather a group outside the bar with their pro-Trump flags.

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