Orange County venue cancels Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s planned America First rally

A Laguna Hills event center canceled plans to host an “America First” rally on July 17 after learning the speakers were slated to be two of the most controversial Republicans in Congress: Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“We just want to stay clear of that,” Javad Mirtavoosi, general manager of Pacific Hills Banquet & Event Center, said by phone Friday.

Greene’s campaign disputed that account of how the cancellation transpired. And they’re still selling tickets for a rally, though they’re still trying to find an Orange County venue for the same day.

“We’re very close to securing a location that will proudly host our America First Rally with Congresswoman Greene and Congressman Gaetz,” Nick Dyer, spokesman for Greene’s campaign, said Friday afternoon.

Images started circulating on social media earlier this week with a flier promoting an America First rally in Laguna Hills on July 17 featuring Gaetz, R-Fla., and Green, R-Ga. The flier lists the location as the Pacific Hills center on Moulton Parkway.

Mirtavoosi said that when the center booked the event they just expected a “gathering.”

“As soon as we found out who the speakers were we immediately canceled it,” Mirtavoosi said.

Gaetz and Greene have been co-hosting America First rallies across the country since early May, when they kicked off the series in a Florida retirement community that heavily supported Trump in 2020.

Along with supporting the controversial former president and many of his policies, the pair have faced controversies of their own. Gaetz is under investigation for accusations of having a sexual relationship with a minor, while Green was booted from her House committees in February over her comments supporting far right extremists.

Earlier this year, both were linked to plans to create a political caucus that would espouse the idea that the United States is an “Anglo-Saxon” culture and that mass immigration is supplanting white culture — ideas previously espoused by white nationalists. Plans to start the caucus were dropped after negative public response and pushback from some in the GOP.

But Gaetz and Greene also have become firebrands for Trump-brand Republicanism, with their American First events in Arizona, Florida and other GOP-friendly states drawing substantial crowds. And Dyer said ticket purchases for the planned Orange County event have been “overwhelming.”

Mirtavoosi declined to say whether he or the center had political differences with the speakers, or whether they’d gotten phone calls about the event.

“We just thought it would be best for our facility to cancel.”

Gaetz’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the event or cancellation.