A Tattoo Shop in Tulsa (OK) refused a Badge Tattoo of a retired officer that wanted to commemorate his 43 years of law enforcement service.
The incident occurred at Black Gold Tattoo when Retired Officer Sam McCoy reported the incident on his Facebook Page.
“I just left Black and Gold tattoo on 11th and Harvard in Tulsa, the shop refused to do the tattoo I wanted because it’s my badge commemorating my 43 years of service as a law enforcement officer. Was told ‘because of personal preference’ no one in the shop would do the tattoo. I called them out on how despicable it was but the community deserves to know how they treat our first responders. Support those who support your ideas.”
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Law Officer reached out to the business for comment and they did not respond. On Saturday, the shop posted the below message on Facebook:
“Black Gold Tattoos would like to address the recent incident in our shop. A person came in and had requested a tattoo that none of the artists working felt comfortable pursuing the request. Those decisions by the artist are taken very seriously for a number of reasons. Most artist have a certain standard that are set by them. Our tattoo artists are independent contractors and have the option to pick what art and style they provide. Certain tattoos are turned down for a variety of reasons (content, placement, style, etc). We understand that this may have caused some backlash from the community. That in no way diminishes our longstanding relationship with the safety professionals of our community.”
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Of course there is a plethora of distasteful and obscene tattoos listed on their social media accounts that apparently the shop is completely comfortable with doing.
The vague explanation did not go well with over 1,000 comments on their post.
Wow….. you would not tattoo a retired police officer? May I ask why? I could ask for a rainbow flag or a BLM on my body and 100% y’all would do it! Congratulations on fu—– up!”
“it wasn’t political. An officer was retiring after almost 50 yrs of service and he was refused BECAUSE he was a cop.”
One commented they had viewed the profile where they are listed as “a self proclaimed anarchist, educated as an archaeologist, one of only 2 certified ‘punk rockers’ in high school…”
Regardless, law enforcement has become accustomed to this sort of treatment. Which, by the way, is the exact type of discrimination that the so called “activists” rail about.
After hearing about this event, we reached out to our friends at Prison Break Tattoo, who was recently featured on a series at A&E Television.
The owner, B.K. Klev, committed to doing the tattoo and Law Officer will pay for it. It is our hope, that while it’s the right of Black Gold Tattoo to refuse any customer they choose, it is certainly the right of every citizen to never walk in there again.
Indeed, freedom works both ways…
Photo Courtesy: facebook.com/blackgoldtattooandpiercing/
