A horror theater company acknowledged that it posted flyers with a death message aimed at Trump supporters.
Photographs of the flyers posted in various places were discovered on social media. The photos were taken in Patchogue, New York, News 12 reported. The flyers in the photos read “Death Camps for Trump Supporters Now!!!”
An eerie flyer also shows a horrific depiction of Trump and smoke stacks representative of death camps.
“I don’t like it,” said a woman interviewed by News 12.
“Definitely crosses the line,” said a man.
“Death Camps for Trump Supporters.” What is the meaning of this? @ShariEinhorn12 explains on @News12LI. pic.twitter.com/ZXWWTBDgt3
— Rich Barrabi (@RichBarrabi) August 7, 2019
Shock Theater initially denied a connection to the flyers, but then admitted to posting them, Patch reported. The company posted an extremely long explanation on its Facebook page apologizing and offering clarity about the situation.
In the post the company explained that the flyers were posted for a project the company was working on about extremism. The project involved the flyers, along with interviews of people. The company said a former social media manager decided to post a photo of the flyers to Twitter without permission. The flyers were part of a promotional effort for the as of yet unfinished show.
Shock Theater claims the company’s aims were misconstrued in the backlash.
“Where we went wrong? Not looking like we cared. We know our name is Shock Theater and we create shocking and scary content but as we have spoken to many people upset by what they saw and heard who convinced us to apologize-we want to assure everyone that not a single person at Shock Theater wants anyone dead and that is in fact the point of the experience we created,” the theater wrote in the Facebook post.
“You see, we are known for being horrible and showing people horrible things and we’re not using that as an excuse. That is a genuine reality of what we do and how we entertain others who enjoy what we create,” the company wrote about its shows.
Getting a little nervous. Movie called The Hunt coming out early September where elites hunt and kill Trump supporters. Flyers posted in NY saying death camps for Trump Supporters. My daughter reposted what Obama said about the shootings and everyone was falling all over him.
— Dianne Tubbs (@dtubbs201) August 7, 2019
The company also expressed that they are not anti-Trump or trying to push a political view, but understand how the lack of context around the flyers confused people.
“Kinda think you were shamed into the apology. You would never have OK’d this if you didn’t really feel that way,” commented one person on the group’s Facebook page. “Would you have done that to any other group? I doubt it. But at least you made an apology. bravo.”
“Due to a story that was broadcast on News 12 from Patchogue on Wednesday, we would like to make it clear that Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts is in no way affiliated with the theatre group responsible for distributing the controversial flyers that were photographed in Patchogue,” wrote Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts in a Facebook post.
Last year Shock Theater produced an interactive horror show called “Eye for Horror: We The People.” The company called the show “Immersive Horror in the Trump Age.”
The company wrote that “guests will play Trump supporters campaigning in the 2020 election and everything falls apart from there.”
The company claimed that the Trump campaign just served as the atmosphere and that the show didn’t take a specific political side, according to the Haunting.net.
The show “is roughly an hour and thirty minutes of your own personal horror movie,” according to the Haunting article.
The horrific experience required people to sign up in groups of two, be 18 or older, and sign a waiver as well as have proof of insurance and I.D.
