Ethan Schmidt, the man who kicked and threw LGBTQ clothes and merchandise in Target forcing the store to remove the memorabilia, is being accused of being a closeted gay man.
In the trending video, he's heard saying he would buy the pride products and set them on the fire, which the one of the staff said he's free to do so.
Ethan Schmidt-Crockett was wearing an untucked polo shirt, cargo pants, and gym shoes when he entered the courtroom on Thursday morning; his signature auburn mustache was curled into a handlebar. This wasn’t the first time Schmidt-Crockett has seen the inside of a courtroom.
The far-right troll was convicted of both trespassing in Scottsdale and an Extreme DUI in Chandler in 2021. He also has been arrested for violating his probation and failing to appear in court as recently as June 2022, according to court records.
This time, the anti-mask and anti-LGBTQ activist was called to answer for his actions in May 2021 when he videotaped himself entering private businesses in Mesa that advertised mask mandates and harassing the employees. Schmidt-Crockett claimed that he was there to “test their mask policy” to share with his hundreds of thousands of online followers.
One of Schmidt-Crockett’s victims, Sunny’s Hair and Wigs located at Baseline and Alma School roads, served the would-be provocateur with a restraining order in January 2022. The next day, Schmidt-Crockett violated the order and called the store.
Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, 24, entered a Barnes & Noble store in Arizona — it remains unclear which branch — and filmed himself harassing people browsing in the store’s LGBTQ “Read with Pride” section.
Schmidt-Crockett and an unidentified companion entered the store on Monday, and filmed themselves mocking and harassing customers while they perused through the titles, reports the UK-based newspaper Daily Mail.
In the video, which was posted to Reddit, Schmidt-Crockett enters the store and asks an employee if there is a gay Pride section for children. When told there is a Pride section, but it doesn’t contain children’s books, Schmidt walks over to the stand while muttering about gay people.
“Here’s the gay loser Pride section,” he says. Two females browsing the books on the table look up in surprise and annoyance before walking away.
“Just really tempted to just kick it down, man,” Schmidt-Crockett says to his companion, referring to the the LGBTQ display’s placement at the center of the store as a “satanic shrine.”
A store manager, named Ryan, is seen walking over and telling Schmidt to leave the premises.
In what could be interpreted as a threat to tip over the display Schmidt’s companion described the table the books are sitting on as “unstable.” But he then adds “…much like their ideology” and takes no action.
Schmidt-Crockett continues to rant, approaching a young heterosexual couple, asking them if they are vaccinated against COVID-19.
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