A New Jersey homeowner’s Halloween display, unveiled on September 11, is causing outrage among his neighbors for depicting President Obama as an Islamic State soldier and seeming to glorify the terrorist organization, though he said his intention is the opposite.
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He said that, contrary to what many neighbors think, his display stands in opposition to ISIS.
In addition to a ISIS member with machete, there is a hanging figure meant to be a U.S. soldier and a a man in a cage meant to be a tortured ISIS captive.
Neighbor AlexJo Natale told NJ.com she knows Matt “really likes Halloween” but considers his choice of decorations “tasteless and un-American”.
The homeowner who erected the display told NJ Advance Media he didn’t believe his decorations were anti-American and that his critics were trying “to stifle his freedom of speech”. “That’s not (a house) I would think a lot of parents would want their kids trick or treating at”.
“‘I understand it touches a nerve with a few people, but that’s just the way it is, ‘ he said”.
But, she added, “it’s his property, he can do what he wants”.
A Morris County man has turned his front yard into apolitical statement, using ISIS, President Barack Obama, and beheadings to drawattention to what he calls America’s war against ISIS.
A few of the decorations have been vandalized since media reports of the display were published Thursday, but Matt said he plans to reinstall the decorations and “kick it up a notch”.
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“I think people are making more of this than it is”, he said. He has reportedly taken the display down for now, but promises to put it back up for Halloween, as to make sure children around his neighborhood aren’t able to enjoy the simple pleasures of spooky Halloween scares without a dose of real-life terror.
