Jack Daniel's Flag Mistaken For ISIS Banner By Nervous Neighbors
Jack Daniel's flags are a familiar feature in frat houses across the U.S., but one young man in Zurich accidentally caused quite a furor when he hung one over his apartment building, and his neighbors mistook it for the black flag of ISIL.
According to 20 Minuten, the 29-year-old man and his girlfriend had recently moved into a new apartment in Zurich. Not long after they moved in, he decided to fly an Italian flag over the apartment, because he is of Italian descent. Later, just to be funny, he decided to hang a Jack Daniel's logo flag above it, because he also likes whiskey. That's when things got weird.
At least one of the man's neighbors apparently mistook the Jack Daniel's logo for the ISIL flag. The two flags don't look much alike, but they are both black flags with white lettering. When viewed from behind, the Jack Daniel's flag appears in reverse and is not immediately obvious as the whiskey company's logo.
Booze-lover's Jack Daniel's flag mistaken for an ISIS banner https://t.co/Po7rDRp311
— The Scottish Sun (@ScottishSun) October 4, 2017
The man says he found an anonymous note from a "worried neighbor" in his mailbox.
"What kind of people are you? Should we be afraid of you?" the note said. "First the Italian flag and now the black flag of death? Are you IS sympathizers? We are putting you under observation and if necessary will report to (redacted)."
The man was flabbergasted by the letter. He said he just hung the flag because he thought it was funny, and now he's worried about which of his neighbors is spying on him and reporting him as a terrorist sympathizer.
He says nobody has admitted writing it yet. If he finds out who it is, he says he intends to pursue legal action for defamation.
He won't take the Jack Daniel's flag down, though.
"Then we would be giving into them," he said. "We're not doing that."
The flag's not coming down, so the man's neighbor will hopefully soon learn the difference between a Jack Daniel's logo and an ISIL flag. It probably wouldn't hurt to check out another 10 things you didn't know about whiskey, too.