Bar Brawl Over 'Make America Great' Hat Breaks Out On The Lower East Side

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — A bar brawl early Friday began as an argument over a "Make America Great Again" hat, according to reports from police and witnesses.

Jovanni Valle, a right-wing activist who was one of multiple people to storm the stage during a recent production of Julius Caesar, was injured in the fight, police said. He suffered a deep cut across his face that required 15 stitches to mend, an NYPD spokesman told Patch.

Valle was among a number of pro-Trump activists who objected to the Public Theater's staging of "Julius Caesar" in Central Park this summer, which depicted Caesar as Trump. Valle stormed the stage during a June performance and was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, police said.

Emma Rodriguez was charged with assault after she broke a glass bottle over Valle's head early Friday morning, police said.

News of the brawl at the Lower East Side club Mehanata spread like wildfire across far-right websites over the weekend. The far-right activist Laura Loomer, who also stormed the stage at Central Park, launched an online fundraising campaign to pay for Valle's hospital bills. On social media, supports including Loomer have referred to Valle as "Jovi Val."

The fight started when Valle saw Rodriguez stepping and dancing on his hat, which had fallen from his head onto the club's floor, according to prosecutors. Loomer claimed in multiple posts that the hat was one of President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" hats.

Valle shoved Rodriguez when he saw her stepping on the hat, at which point Leonardo Heinert approached and repeatedly punched Valle, police said. Rodriguez then smashed a glass bottle on Valle's head, causing him to "bleed profusely," according to the criminal complaint filed against her.

Rodriguez and Heinert were charged with assault. Patch was not immediately able to contact attorneys for either Heinert or Rodriguez.

The incident caused Heinert to lose work with the New York City real estate agency Nooklyn.

"We have officially terminated Mr. Heinert's salesperson license from Nooklyn," the company said in a tweet. "Mr. Heinert is no longer associated with our company."

The brawl started sometime after a launch party for Milo Yiannopoulos' new book "Dangerous," which he self-published this month after Simon & Schuester dropped it in the wake of outrage over comments he made about pedophilia.

Yiannopoulos is suing the publisher for $10 million, he announced last week. The official launch party for the memoir was hosted at the DL, complete with a dunk tank and a Hillary Clinton impersonator wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, according to Publisher's Weekly. After the launch party, supporters including Valle reportedly stopped by the Mehanata, located just blocks away.

Lead image by Mark Makela/Getty Images News