Man Who Bought $9000 Trump Sneakers Hits Back At Criticism

A man has responded to those who criticized him for buying an autographed pair of Donald Trump "Never Surrender" sneakers at an auction.

Roman Sharf, the founder and CEO of watch dealer Luxury Bazaar, spent $9,000 on one of 1,000 pairs of shoes, of which ten were autographed by Trump, at a sneaker convention in Philadelphia. The gold-colored high-tops feature an American flag with metallic stars on the back and "T" embossed on the leather.

In the wake of his purchase, some slammed Sharf online for being a Trump supporter and said they would no longer do business with him. Articles online referred to him as a "Russian oligarch"—and now he's cleared up these claims.

Newsweek contacted Sharf via Instagram Wednesday for comment.

User @MarioNawfal posted Sharf's video on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote: "MAINSTREAM MEDIA LABELED HIM A 'RUSSIAN OLIGARCH' AFTER $9K TRUMP SNEAKER BUY. Watch Roman Sharf, a Ukrainian immigrant and American Veteran, fight back."

In the clip, Sharf said he is a "sneakerhead", a U.S. Army veteran, and a Republican.

He showed screenshots of various articles referring to him as a "Russian oligarch" before saying: "Sounds sketchy but I actually came from Ukraine. At the time it was part of the Soviet Union. I came here at the age of 13 as a refugee but my dad had $4 in his pocket.

"I busted my a** working every dirty job under the sun to get where I am today in order to be able to afford to buy these $9,000 pair of collectible sneakers. But I guess the headline of 'Russian refugee,' 'Ukrainian refugee,' or perhaps, maybe just 'a man,' that would not get as many clicks as a 'Russian oligarch.'"

He referenced a tweet about him from someone he referred to as a "Ukrainian patriot" that said, "A Russian shady watch dealer bought $9,000 pair of sneakers as a way to move money to Russia."

In response, Sharf requested that the author of the tweet check their facts. He said that his charity raised over a quarter million dollars of aid to Ukraine since the war started. Newsweek has not independently verified this.

On February 24, 2022, Russia's Vladimir Putin began a military invasion of Ukraine, which at the time, created the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War 2.

"I wasn't trying to make a political statement by buying these shoes. Of course, the internet blew up. I'm getting comments and messages on [Instagram] from people saying 'Oh I am no longer following you' or 'I'm unfollowing you because you're a Trump supporter' and 'I'm no longer doing business with you,'" he said.

"It's funny here I am, maybe I'm silly, [but] I thought that people done business with Luxury Bazaar because we've been in business for 21 years, because of trust, because of personalized customer service that we provide and great pricing. But I guess I was wrong.

"You know what saddens me the most about this whole situation is that over something as stupid as a pair of sneakers, it showed me so clearly once again just how divided our country is. With that said guys, there is not a mean tweet in the world, there's not an IG post, there's not a news article that's going to stop me from being who I am and that is a patriot of this country. A country that once let in a 13-year-old immigrant and gave me the opportunity to be where I am today. And I'm going to be thankful for that for the rest of my life."

Sharf ended the video by questioning why people want to hate him for "wanting this country to be great again" and pledged his allegiance to the flag.

Trump announced his new sneakers during a surprise appearance at Sneaker Con on Saturday.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time," he told the crowd. "I have some incredible people that work with me on things, and they came up with this, and this is something I've been talking about for 12 years, 13 years. I think it's gonna be a big success."