Farmer Believes Racist Graffiti Sprayed on Home Is Connected to Radio Show Comment

A farmer's house in Green Oak Township, Michigan, was vandalized Tuesday night with hateful graffiti.

The owner said Wednesday that she believes it was done because of comments she made during a recent appearance on a radio show in which she showed support for a drag queen event.

Renay Gedeon, who co-owns Gedeon Farms with her husband, Mike, posted pictures on Facebook of graffiti spray-painted on the side of their home and on the garage door. The messages read: "Que" and "KKK."

Gedeon also said her fence was damaged during the incident.

"Whoever did this to my house and my farm we will find out who you are!!!!! My husband and I don't deserve this. We work hard for what we have," her Facebook post read, in part. "Our farmers and businesses losing money this last year with pandemic."

She told local radio station WHMI on Wednesday that she heard her two dogs barking loudly on Tuesday night. When she investigated, she said she found the vandalism.

Last week, Gedeon was interviewed on WHMI about a recent controversy regarding the local Howell Melon Festival. During the talk, she said that the festival had become too political due to a since-canceled Drag Queen Bingo event.

She said on Wednesday that those previous comments likely motivated someone to damage her property with the graffiti.

Meghan Reckling, chair of the Livingston County Republican Party, had earlier posted on social media that the event—which was for adults only—was not suitable for what she called a family-friendly festival. She said the Drag Queen Bingo event would make the whole proceedings "sexualized."

That post led to much debate about the bingo event. Gedeon saw no big issue with it, though, and brought up the financial benefits of holding it during her WHMI interview last week. She said: "It's bringing money into our community. I mean, it sold out in a day, I heard. It doesn't bother me. To get back to normal, we have to be smart about everything, and I think our community is lacking in that."

On Wednesday, she told WHMI that she received some negative reactions from the community, including a woman who shouted homophobic slurs when driving by her house. That caused her to believe that her comments inspired someone to put hateful messages on her property.

"I'm devastated...I can't believe someone would do this to my house," Gedeon said.

On Wednesday, Reckling released a statement that spoke out against the vandalism: "Violence and intimidation have no place in our community or in its discourse. The Livingston County Republican Party strongly condemns the recent vandalism which occurred at Gedeon Farms, and we hope that local law enforcement will bring those who perpetrated the act to justice."