'Miscommunication': Marjorie Taylor Greene’s January 6th book signing canceled at Kissimmee resort
OSCEOLA COUNTY - "Just complete and utter disappointment."
That’s what Orlando-area Representative Anna Eskamani says she felt when she saw the invitation for a January 6th book signing at the Westgate Resort.
The resort wound up canceling the event after Rep. Eskamani posted on social media about it, leading to several people calling for a boycott of Westgate. That event was being put on by the Republican Party of Osceola County and aimed to attract a couple hundred people.
The Party Chair, Mark Cross, says this all started when he got a call from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s publisher, asking them to host a book signing.
"I jumped at the chance because she's a firebrand speaker, and she always draws a lot of people to her events. And it's a way to help energize some of our local folks. So we were glad to do it," said Cross.
Cross explained that MTG had an event in Florida earlier in the day, and her team wanted to do the book signing in the evening.
Westgate told FOX 35 in a statement it was, "Not made aware of the purpose of this event when [they] were approached to host a book signing. This event has been canceled and is no longer taking place at [the] resort."
So, what was that purpose?
"It kind of got blown up out of proportion," explained Cross. A lot of people started saying this was, uh, an anniversary of the insurrection, but it's really not."
Cross says there was a miscommunication with a third-party service that sent out a text message about the event.
The occasion, the message says, was "The third anniversary of January 6th."
"I think people just misinterpreted it," said Cross. "I mean, the event is January 6th. It was in no way intended to commemorate [it.]"
"January 6th was a tragedy in this country. It is a reflection of how fragile democracy is and how we need to reject extremism and find ways to work together. And so go ahead and have a book signing, but do not celebrate January 6th," said Rep. Eskamani.