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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Mall Management Company Censors Kiosk Owner and Kicks Them Out

The owner of kiosk that sells conservative merchandise in a North Carolina mall won't get to continue pushing "Impeach Obama" bumper stickers after his lease expires Friday.

The Concord Mills mall decided not to renew its contract with Loren Spivack, who fought to stay in business in the shopping center.

Spivack says his kiosk, Free Market Warrior, is being nudged out for purely political reasons.

After meeting with officials from the Concord, N.C., mall Tuesday afternoon, the two sides could not reach an agreement to keep the 8-foot-long kiosk where it was.

"Mr. Spivack has not agreed to remove the objectionable merchandise and will be moving out of Concord Mills at the end of his lease," a statement from the mall said.

Spivack told FOXNews.com that mall officials specifically asked that three bumper stickers and a T-shirt believed to be linking President Obama with terrorism be removed from the kiosk, including one that read, "Obama Wins and They Celebrate in Iran, Do You Get It?"

Four employees at the kiosk will lose their jobs at the end of business on Friday, Spivack said, but he'll continue selling the merchandise online.

"It was a very difficult decision," Spivack told FOXNews.com. "I really don't want to [leave the mall], but I was even less comfortable having this corporation essentially dictate which criticisms could be made." - FOX News Story

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