The display was put up outside Quality Coatings on Carr Street in Fowlerville, Michigan, by its owner Dave Huff around three weeks ago, the Detroit Free Press reported.
But it caused outrage after Kathy DeTroyer drew attention to the display in a post on Facebook last week.
Her pictures show the display featured a blood-splattered Trump holding a black rope with an Obama mask attached to it. Trump also appears to be stepping on a Hillary Clinton mask in the display.
“How is this ok? I am disgusted that this is in my hometown,” DeTroyer wrote on Facebook alongside pictures of the display. “Way to display your ignorance. Democrat or Republican this is just wrong. At least I know who not to do business with.”
Robert Feeney, who lives opposite the auto shop, told the Detroit Free Press that the rope looks like a noose.
“He’s getting a little carried away with it, especially when he had Obama’s head hanging on a noose,” Feeney told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, the Quality Coatings Facebook page has received more than negative reviews from people who called the display racist, hateful and in poor taste.
“Don’t buy from this company,” wrote John Machowicz. “Their racist display is not vulgar but anti-American.”
Jason Heinrich left a negative review accusing the owners of showing a “complete lack of empathy” when people complained about the display.
Alongside a picture of the scarecrow, he wrote: “I’ll never support them. Here’s what they thought would be funny for Halloween…racists! They demonstrated complete lack of empathy when people complained. They owe their town a public apology. Shame on them.”
Hailey Sewell added: “Lacks judgement, lacks respect. Lacks human decency. This is gross and should have never been displayed.”
Tabetha Cross added: “The owners of this establishment are quite obviously deeply racist, hateful, and completely inappropriate. The lack of judgement in creating this Halloween abomination is sickening. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
Jay Pe also described the display as “racist” and added that it was also “mean-spirited” and “stupid.”
“What a genuinely awful Halloween display this company put up. Racist, Mean-spirited, Clueless, Stupid.” And only a complaint from the owner about “PC police,” instead of an apology when reasonably offended people made it an issue."
Quality Coatings has not publicly responded to the comments, but on Monday, their Facebook page was taken down.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Huff has altered the display to remove the rope and Obama mask and added yellow tape around the scene reading “PC-POLICE.”
He told the newspaper that he became aware of the negative comments after an employee told him on Friday.
He added that he didn’t anticipate a backlash because he’s not racist, adding that the rope was supposed to represent a spine and was related to a move from the Mortal Kombat game. He added that he didn’t even vote in the 2016 presidential election.
“It was a Halloween decoration that I guess went too far,” he told the Detroit Free Press.
Newsweek has contacted Quality Coatings for further comment.
Update: This story has been updated to include information about Quality Coatings’ Facebook page being taken down.
