City Council Allows Giant American Flag to Remain Flying over RV Dealership

A huge American flag will remain flying over a reality TV star’s RV dealership in Statesville, North Carolina, after the city told him to remove it.

“Statesville officials announced Monday that a deal was reached to change an ordinance so reality show host Marcus Lemonis can keep a 40-by-80-foot U.S. flag over his Gander RV dealership,” the Charlotte Observer reported.

However, reports said Lemonis’ dealership is required to pay almost $16,000 in fines and legal costs racked up during the dispute.

In May, Breitbart News reported that Lemonis, who is an actor and producer of the reality TV show The Profit, said he refused to remove the flag after the city officials said its size violated a city ordinance.

“There is no way that flag is coming down,” he commented, adding that he did not care how much the city fined him for keeping the flag up.

“I don’t care if it goes to $500 a day. It’s not coming down,” he concluded.

In an effort to gain community support, Lemonis launched a petition that received thousands of signatures.

“This is about more than just the flag. This is about our Veterans, Military, and the men and women that have sacrificed for this great country. They are the reason we fly the flag, and they are the reason we will NOT take it down!” the petition read.

On Monday, Lemonis expressed thanks to his supporters on Twitter.

Thank you to all that felt the need to support. @cityofsvl has great people and I will continue to support. Would love to donate the same size flag to downtown Statesville. https://t.co/J97TL9ijln

— Marcus Lemonis (@marcuslemonis) October 7, 2019

Reports said that although the city council voted against changing the city ordinance in June, they reversed their decision on Monday and unanimously agreed to allow Lemonis to keep the flag up.

In a June press release, Statesville Mayor Costi Kutteh said the city had received much bad publicity after news spread of Lemonis’ refusal to remove the flag.

“Some terrible things have been said about our wonderful town, and it hasn’t come from our citizens,” Kutteh said. “But people from all over the country have jumped on this issue and called us names I can’t repeat. When our community’s efforts to conduct business in an orderly, lawful manner begins to hurt our businesses, then it’s time to put a stop to it.”