One union supervisor working the Obama event this Friday apparently didn't get the whole “Freedom of Speech” memo.

KTLA interviewed stagehand Duane Hammond at the scene, where he had just been fired from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 33 union. According to Hammond, his supervisor told him to take off his hat and turn his sweatshirt inside out, as both were printed with the name “George H. W. Bush.” When Hammond refused, he was told to leave.

Of course, knowing they were about to get slapped with the fattest lawsuit this side of Texas …

… Union officials called Hammond to apologize as soon as they heard about the incident. The stagehand told KTLA this afternoon that his higher-ups are now “bending over backwards” to make it up to him.

As for the mystery supervisor, it seems a strict “tsk tsk” and one of those nasty U.S. citizenship tests are definitely in order.

(We'd also like to know: How about the handful of USC hipsters who no doubt showed up in their ironic “I Heart George Bush” T-shirts? Did they get kicked off campus, too? It's only fair.)

The saddest part of Hammond's story: He wasn't even trying to make a political statement. The union worker told KTLA that his son, who is currently in the navy, serves on aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H. W. Bush., and that he recently picked up the gear at Family Day.

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