New York – Danish tourist Jannich Andersen was assaulted by two men in New York City for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
The Danish man was enjoying his time out in the Big Apple when he was approached by two individuals in the Union Square subway.
“(One of them) looks at me and asks if I knew what the hat meant, what it symbolized and I said yes,” he explained. “He said, ‘You’re not gonna leave here with this (the hat).’” Andersen said.
The men then grabbed Andersen from behind and ripped the hat off his head, he managed to grab it back, but then the two individuals pulled on his shirt and ripped it.
As Jannich tried to walk back to the subway, the two men pushed him, and one his friends told him they had a knife, so he let go of the hat in fear of being stabbed.
“Then in Danish one of our friends said one of the guys had a knife and I start to panic and look around and I let go of the hat,” he said. “I get it if someone gets offended and shouts something — but not go to where you pull out a knife and think it’s OK to stab someone over a hat,” he told the New York Daily News.
Jannich purchased another MAGA hat to replace the one the men stole. Andersen told the New York Daily News that he had originally bought President Donald Trump‘s signature hat as an inside joke to bring home to his dad in Denmark, but for now, believes that maybe it isn’t safe to wear it while travelling in America.
“I’m a little shocked,” Andersen, 18, said in an exclusive interview with the Daily News Friday. “Until then I had a very good experience (in the city).”
The two men have not yet been caught, and police have asked for the public’s help in locating the pair, whom Andersen described as white, in their 20s or 30s, and about 6 feet tall.
Police on Friday released a sketch of the assailant who threatened the Danish tourist with the knife:
