Vendor removes vulgar flag targeting VP Kamala Harris during Cruisin’ The Coast

Dozens of Long Beach residents say they are not happy that people set up at the entrance to their city for Cruisin’ the Coast are displaying flags with politically vulgar terms.

Car horns blared on the beach Wednesday evening as drivers stopped at the red light at U.S. 90 and Jeff Davis Avenue in Long Beach and a man waved, shouting “Joe and the hoe gotta go.”

The street — which is the entrance to the city’s downtown area — is flanked by two empty lots and a Waffle House restaurant. But during Cruisin’ this year, a vendor booth selling flags supporting Donald Trump set up on the eastern side.

Most of the flags had common phrases used by Trump supporters — “Let’s Go Brandon,” “Trump 2024,” and American flags with with the former president’s face printed in the middle.

But the chant the worker was yelling Wednesday was also on a flag hanging at the front of the vendor booth right along the highway where tens of thousands of tourists in town for Cruisin’ will drive this week.

The vulgar statement targeting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris was removed from the booth Thursday morning after the Sun Herald asked a worker about the flag.

Scott Thompson, who runs the booth, said they took the “Joe and Hoe Gotta Go” flag down over concerns of vulgarity at the family friendly event.

Thompson, who said he has a permit from the city to operate his booth, said they were $15 and the flag was a top seller at Cruisin’.

Residents in the city decried vulgar flags earlier this week in a 100-comment thread in a neighborhood Facebook group. A different booth in the same area was accused of promoting the F-word.

Many of the comments Monday were from residents who said they were conservative Republicans, but still thought vulgar flags were not welcome at a family-friendly event.

The Sun Herald visited the other booth on Tuesday and there were no visible signs of the flag with F-word after the outcry on Monday. The thread has since been deleted.