CHESAPEAKE, Va.— Death threats at a doughnut shop— it’s a new reality at Amazing Glazed in Chesapeake.
“He said, 'Well, I want you to know I’m coming to kill you,'” said owner Mary Jane Hamblin.
The internet is taking aim at Hamblin and her business after she posted a photo on her Facebook page Tuesday showing her husband and some friends before they left for Washington, D.C., to attend President Donald Trump’s rally near the White House.
“My husband thought it would be this historic event to see a sitting president speak,” she explained
The caption on her post read, “So proud of these four guys for traveling to DC to support our president!!”
She says the group left after the speech and never planned to go to the Capitol, but the backlash was swift.
“I’m taking calls that accuse me of being a terrorist…[saying] I am racist, which couldn’t be anything further from the truth,” she says.
As the world was reeling from the deadly violence at the Capitol caused by Pro-Trump rioters, Hamblin’s post from the day before was screenshotted and shared publicly alongside the Amazing Glazed Facebook page by someone who vowed not to patronize the business.
“It just went from there like wildfire. The post, the messages on Facebook started coming in, the ugly phone calls started - it just went crazy.”
The post condemning Hamblin’s support for the President has been shared nearly 800 times on Facebook.
That same post traveled to Twitter, where it’s been retweeted upwards of 5,500 times — this time, the poster suggested the business supports domestic terrorism and encouraged people to leave negative reviews of the business.
“I’ve had threats towards my grandbabies that are as little as 9 months old. I don’t know if people that post things on social media know how they affect families,” said Hamblin.
Hamblin shut down the Amazing Glazed Facebook page, but people targeted their Google reviews — leaving dozens of fake one-star comments trashing the business. Yelp temporarily disabled reviews in wake of the backlash.
People have left voicemails on the business' phone using explicit language and calling them “racist pro-Trump Nazis,” among other things.
The backlash spread over 400 miles away to a Pennsylvania bakery with a similar name. Amazing Glaze Donut Company located in Allison Park, PA is also receiving negative reviews by people who have the two different businesses mixed up—the Pennsylvania donut shop is not affiliated with the business in Chesapeake.
After three days of threats, there are now pages of phone numbers that will be turned over to police.
Hamblin says she doesn’t know when the harassment will end, but her focus now is on protecting her family.
“I’m going to pray that God help keep my family safe through this. What happens to my business, that’s all in God‘s plan.”
