Six Flags apologizes to N.J. veteran denied entry over shirt

Alejandronj.com – by Rob Spahr

One week after Six Flags Great Adventure securitydenied a New Jersey veteran admission to the theme park because of the t-shirt he was wearing, Six Flags officially apologized to the veteran.

Mario Alejandro, a 33-year-old father of three from Woodbridge and former coach of the Cardinal McCarrick High School football team, served four years as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps infantry. He was part of the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003 and said he is classified as disabled, due to the hearing loss and post-traumatic stress disorder he sustained from his military service.  

Alejandro told NJ.com the incident at Six Flags Great Adventure happened on Aug. 9 while he was wearing a black shirt – which was Father’s Day gift from his family – that had a red, white and blue gun and the words “Keep Calm and Return Fire” on the front and the logo and website for The Reconnaissance Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps to support Recon Marines and their families, on the back.

Alejandro said he was attempting to enter the park with his family when a security guard told him that he had to change his shirt or buy another one to put over it because it was “offensive.”

“I told them that’s it’s not offensive, that it’s a military shirt and that it means something,” said Alejandro, adding he identified himself as a veteran. “But they said: ‘I don’t care, get out of the park.”

In the four days since NJ.com posted Alejandro’s story, the incident has been a source of debate nationwide and multiple national media outlets reached out to Alejandro for interviews.

“I was a bit surprised that it took off the way it did. I just thought (NJ.com) would do a short write up and that would pretty much be it. But then out of nowhere I had people from shows like Fox & Friends calling me and asking me to be on their shows,” said Alejandro, adding he turned down some of the requests because he wanted things to “kind of just die down.”

The two stories posted on NJ.com about the incident received more than 1,600 reader comments in four days. And an NJ.com poll that asked readers if Six Flags was right to deny Alejandro entry over his shirt received more than 5,400 votes through Monday afternoon. Of those votes, nearly 66 percent – or 3,581 – said the park was wrong. Meanwhile just less than 31 percent said Six Flags was right to do so and another 3 percent said they were not sure who was right.

“I see both sides of it and can understand how other people may have taken it,” Alejandro said. “But I wasn’t looking for any perks or anything special from the park. I don’t talk about my service or brag about being a veteran. I even have two close family friends who didn’t know I was a veteran until this story came out. But when they said that my shirt was ‘offensive,’ that’s when things escalated.”

On Thursday, Six Flags Great Adventure spokeswoman Kristin B. Siebeneicher told NJ.com that the incident was “under review.”

Two days later, Six Flags Great Adventure President John Fitzgerald personally called Alejandro to apologize. The apology was promptly accepted.

“Six Flags takes great pride in the various ways we honor, celebrate and support our military heroes,” Siebeneicher said via email on Monday. “We strive to maintain a family-friendly environment and similar to many other public venues we have a dress code. Unfortunately, at the time our employee did not know Mr. Alejandro’s shirt was related to a military charity and we apologize to any military personnel who may have been offended by our mistake.”

Alejandro said that he appreciated the way Fitzgerald reached out to him directly, and not through an intermediary or an impersonal letter.

“The fact that this guy took the time to call me, to personally explain to me what their policy was and to apologize about the way things happened, it was pretty cool of him,” he said.

Siebeneicher added that Six Flags has invited Alejandro and his family to visit the park again as special VIP guests.  However, Alejandro said that as of Monday afternoon he did not know if he would be accepting the invitation.

“To be honest with you, I just don’t know about that right now,” he said.

Alejandro said that he is hopeful that the incident will help to prevent other veterans from having to experience similar situations in the future, even though he says he knows that there is no guarantee of that.

“I would like to thank everyone who spoke out to support me and other veterans over the last few days. That support means a lot,” he said. “I’ve had people I don’t even know stopping me to ask me where they can buy the shirt. I’m overwhelmed by all of this, but I greatly appreciate it.”

Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@nj.com. Follow him on Twitter@TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2014/08/six_flags_apologizes_to_nj_veteran_denied_entry_over_shirt.html

3 thoughts on “Six Flags apologizes to N.J. veteran denied entry over shirt

  1. Take the vip passes and sell those sh!ts. take your business to an upstanding place like….disneyland?lololololol.
    seaworld?lolololololl
    busch gardens?lololololololol

    actually spend the money on some food and ammo. then bury it.

  2. Im sure the spokeswoman Kristin B. Siebeneiche is just doing damage control..

    no one should be going to this 2nd and 1st amendment stomping park, and this rep knows this is really bad PR and as it should be,, they should feel this in their next quarter earnings report, and I feel that is all they are worried about

    lets face it not much or many businesses are doing all that well in this depression recession government take over bankster war we are all knee deep in , last thing they want is more bad press or to stomp on the toes of many of their daily bread and butter

    as far as Im concerned ..too late

  3. When the hell are the people going to stop kissing these people ass. Just because he was in the military does not make him special

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