It’s not political’: Woman takes her case to the attorney general

An Ohio woman said in her TikTok video that she went to a Michaels store in Mayfield to have several personal items custom framed and left without service. Tore Maras, who posts as @toremaras, stated that staff refused the job after seeing the pieces she brought in. The TikTok video of the counter interaction, originally found by The Nerd Stash, has gained hundreds of thousands of views.

Maras said she wanted frames for three items: an original Cleveland newspaper from the day of the Moon Landing, a print of a McNaughton artwork titled The United States of Trump that shows Donald Trump seated in Winston Churchill’s chair, and another piece she described as religious artwork of presidents in prayer.

In the recording she shared, a blonde employee behind the counter told her, “Michael’s policy, we’re not allowed to do political pieces, right?” Maras responded that the frames were for her house.

Customer records call after filing attorney general complaint

Maras then turned the camera toward a manager in a red shirt and asked if the refusal was company policy. The manager began to explain the rule, but Maras interrupted. Maras stated in the video, “It’s not political. This is for my house.” She added that she wasn’t making posters and asked why an employee who saw the Trump image seemed upset. The clip ends with Maras saying she would post the interaction on social media.

In a follow-up TikTok video, Maras said she filed a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General’s office and then called Michaels Customer Care. She stated that the first employee walked away when the religious McNaughton piece came out and that the manager later called her an ineligible customer because of a political policy. Maras claimed the company had previously said publicly that no such policy existed.

During the recorded call she shared, a representative named Piper told her that staff can deny “sensitive items or things that are inappropriate.”

Piper said she was not legal and had no opinion on the specific items. Maras asked on the call whether a Moon Landing newspaper, a presidential portrait, and the religious artwork qualified as inappropriate. She stated that she wanted the denial in writing. Customer-service refusals have gone viral before, including a mother who said Starbucks refused service while her autistic son cried. 

Maras said the three pieces placed in that category were an image of the President, a religious McNaughton painting of most of the presidents in prayer, and the original Moon Landing newspaper. She claimed the refusal amounted to deceptive practice and discrimination regarding the religious item. The call ended with Piper saying the matter would be escalated to a higher level for further contact.

Maras stated that she shops at Michaels regularly and brought the items with her niece. She said she remained polite while staff were rude and that she is an investigative journalist who found the situation appalling.

She added that she had already reached out to counsel in addition to filing the attorney general complaint. In the video, she noted that Ohio public accommodation law protects religion but does not list political viewpoint, and that a refusal alone does not prove a violation.

Viewers who watched the original store video shared strong reactions in the comments. One commenter expressed disbelief that a store would refuse framing for personal home items and wrote, “It is none of their business what you put in your house. This is unreal!!”

Another commenter said they would stop shopping at the chain if the account is accurate and wrote, “If this is true, I will NEVER will I shop there again.” A third commenter called for action against the employee and the company, writing, “This employee should be fired and Michael’s stores should be boycotted.”