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      U.S. News

      Video: Hipster Tears Down Pro-Cop Ribbons and Screams ‘Black Lives Matter!’

      CHILL OUT

      Stephen Varvaro went wild on Staten Island, yelling “f**k blue lives!” and arguing with a passerby who defended men and women in uniform.

      M.L. Nestel

      Updated Apr. 13, 2017 3:27PM ET / Published Jul. 27, 2016 2:50PM ET 

      via Facebook

      A hipster hairstylist cut off more than he could chew when he tore down several blue ribbons on Staten Island honoring police.

      Stephen Varvaro was captured on video by a motorist on Tuesday who posted the footage of the twentysomething bearded barber shredding the blue ribbons knotted around trees and signposts around the borough.

      “Why you taking [the ribbons]—” the motorist asked.

      Varvaro interrupted and put both hands around his mouth and yelled, “Black lives matter!”

      The motorist shouted back, “All lives matter! Blue lives save all lives!”

      He shouts it again and the driver filming the ribbon untying unfold before him shouts back:

      “We’re not talking about all lives right now,” Varvaro hits back, before waving the man off and trying to end the conversation repeating, “Whatever, man, whatever.”

      The exchange heats up more as Varvaro finds another blue ribbon placed on a telephone pole.

      As he unties it the driver tells him, “You’re disgusting!”

      Varvaro comes back, “You’re disgusting!” before enunciating slowly: “Black. Lives. Matter…. All lives are not being persecuted right now,” he said clapping his hands to drown out the man he was arguing with.

      Then he lost it.

      “Fuck all lives! Fuck blue lives—it’s about Black Lives Matter, OK?!” he spewed, before pacing away.

      Sources told The Daily Beast that Varvaro has received threats forcing him and his girlfriend (who was also allegedly threatened) to purge their social media accounts after the video of his one-man ribbon cutting rampage went viral.

      “I know that what I did was wrong,” a suddenly contrite Varvaro told The Staten Island Advance. “Tearing the ribbons down was the wrong thing to do. It was disrespectful.”

      He went on to explain how enraged he became when he saw the blue ribbons as a direct affront to the struggle of African Americans.

      “…What I thought they meant was to hell with Black Lives Matter. I assumed, I was hasty, I acted in anger. I didn’t see blue when I saw the blue ribbons, I saw red and I was angry and I lost control.

      “I’m in no way against Blue Lives Matter,” he told the paper, adding that he feared for his well-being.

      “I’m getting threats about it and I don’t feel safe on the island anymore,” Varvaro said.

      Some of the outrage lodged against him and his girlfriend were posted on an anonymous NYPD cop forum where various members—many retired Finest—piled on Varvaro.

      One took screengrabs of his Facebook account, which also showed the woman he was “in a relationship with” and another posted the address of the hair salon where Varvaro worked.

      “That retard needs a littering summons from the DEC. There’s the video proof,” wrote one.

      One was appalled the motorist didn’t jump Varvaro:

      “Another bearded hipster douche that can’t even change a flat tire. What I want to know is why didn’t the camera guy get out and beat him to a pulp and then tell him to call blm.”

      Some Staten Islanders rang the young hairstylist’s boss and demanded he be fired.

      Varvaro, whose chair at the Ted & Company salon in Staten Island has remained empty for three weeks, won’t be filled with any of his customers again, the owner told us.

      “He’s no longer with us right now,” the owner, who gave only his first name Ted, told The Daily Beast. “And everything he’s done and saying has no reflection on us.”

      The owner said he spoke to Varvaro’s mother and told her that when her son returns from going on tour with his band he should steer clear of the salon.

      “He isn’t welcome back,” Ted said, adding he has offered a discount to members of service to counterbalance the damage his hairstylist inflicted. “What he has done is put us into his political views. We have nothing to do with any of that.”

      And while Varvaro explains the peril he’s facing, his boss says the outlash has forced him and his co-workers to be on extra guard.

      “We have been getting calls,” Ted confirmed. “It doesn’t feel safe to be here after all this.”

      M.L. Nestel

      @mlnestelml.nestel@thedailybeast.com

      Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.

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