Police say surveillance video shows a person lighting a gay pride flag on fire outside a Manhattan restaurant early Monday morning.
The owner of the Little Prince restaurant called the act disgusting, but not shocking.
“It’s nothing new. The hate is out there. I don’t think it’s surprising,” Cobi Levy, the owner of Little Prince, said.
The flag said “Make America Gay Again.”
Levy says a staff member quickly called 911, triggering a fast response from the FDNY, which stopped a fire that could have had tragic consequences for the tenants upstairs.
“You think [SoHo] is a safe place for people to live, for people to be who they are. And for something to happen — a renowned restaurant at Little Prince — that’s disappointing,” William Donovan, a Soho resident, said.
Donovan and his partner have lived in SoHo for five years — and are patrons of the restaurant. They are upset by the fire.
“Not a good showing down here today,” Donovan said.
Levy enlisted the help of City Councilman Erik Bottcher 10 hours after the fire. The old flag was replaced with a pride inclusion flag, which has colors to represent Black and brown people, as well as colors representing the transgender community.
“If the person who did this wanted to strike fear into our community, what this person has done has only strengthened our resolve to fight back as a community,” Bottcher said.
Bottcher believes this incident was clearly a hate crime. And Levy plans to fight the possible act of hate like many have before.
“I just think it’s about the defiance and you can’t let them win by giving up. So we’ll be back open tonight,” Levy said.