Gigi Gaskins, owner of hatWRKS apologized after losing at least one business partner and provoking the threat of a boycott.
Gaskins originally defended her ad, saying that "I pay much more respect to history by standing up with the fallen than offering silence & compliance. That is the worst crime. It was then & is now."
She eventually retracted her statements and deleted the post advertising the $5 star badges after receiving intense backlash from the public.
“In NO WAY did I intend to trivialize the Star of David or disrespect what happened to millions of people,” read the unsigned apology post on the hatWRKS Instagram page.
“My hope was to share my genuine concern & fear and to do all that I can to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.
“I sincerely apologize for any insensitivity.”
Prior to the apology, Gaskins's business partner, the John B Stetson Company, announced that it would no longer be providing its products for sale through the store.
“As a result of the offensive content and opinions shared by HatWRKS in Nashville, Stetson and our distribution partners will cease the sale of all Stetson products,” the company wrote on Twitter.
Gaskins has come under fire in the past for comparing COVID-19 vaccine passports to the Nazi regime papers issued to Jews, and for promoting conspiracy theories that blamed Jewish philanthropist George Soros and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for the coronavirus pandemic.