Melbourne man Angelo Notta left ‘embarrassed’ over being asked to remove MAGA hat at St Kilda bar Captain Baxter

A Melbourne man has spoken of his humiliation at being asked to remove his MAGA hat at a popular St Kilda bar, after being accused of “political incitement”.

Angelo Notta, 45, was celebrating a friend’s birthday at the Captain Baxter bar on Australia Day, when he claims an employee of the venue approached him, making the demand to take the “Make America Great Again” hat off.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Melbourne man mortified over hat removal demand.

“I rocked up at 5.30pm, sat down at a table and probably 10 minutes in the venue manager came up to me and said ‘I need you to remove your hat’,” Notta told the Herald Sun on Tuesday.

“I said ‘Since when is there a no hat policy’ but he said ‘It’s not that, it’s what’s on the hat’. He said that it was inciting ‘political trouble’.

“I was told I needed to remove it or I’m going to be kicked out. I was embarrassed. I was getting quite upset.

“It’s just stupid to be getting offended by a hat. Everyone has a right to have an opinion, respectfully, without the fear of being cancelled. It’s basically like we’re bowing down to a minority.”

Notta took the hat off as he was too embarrassed to disagree, but then one of his friends jokingly put on the hat and a security guard demanded it be removed, the Herald Sun reported. His friend complied.

“What if I was wearing a Kamala hat? Would they do the same thing? If I had a Free Palestine T-shirt, is that OK?” he asked.

7NEWS.com.au reached out for comment from the Captain Baxter and venue owner Melbourne Hospitality People.

In Victoria, you cannot discriminate against a person for their political views.

On Tuesday, Sunrise reporter Andrew McCormack was outside the Captain Baxter, speaking about the incident.

“Legally, you are not allowed to refrain anyone or refuse anyone service for their political views, but technically, legal experts say that pubs and venues can get away with asking people to remove anything that might incite political trouble,” McCormack said.

“So, if they thought another patron might take exemption to that hat and maybe start a fight with Angelo - they could maybe ask him to take it off.

“There’s wriggle room there. Where do you draw the line? And if he’s wearing something on the other political spectrum, would they ask him to take that hat off as well?”