Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis is standing his ground after the City of Sevierville demanded that Camping World’s location off of exit 407 along I-40 in Kodak remove its 130-foot flagpole flying a 3,200 sq. ft. American flag.
On January 30, the City of Sevierville sent a letter to Camping World’s Kodak location notifying the business that its 130-foot flagpole violates the city’s Zoning Ordinance for Arterial Commercial zones, which only permits a 44-foot tall maximum flagpole to be placed on the property.
Dear @SeviervilleTN , the flag and flag pole aren’t coming down.
It’s currently our standard flag pole of 130 and flag is 40×80. We are excited to continue to send all the new tax revenue from the 20 million dollar facility we built in your town on former farmland.… pic.twitter.com/cRvHwBuXA5
— Marcus Lemonis (@marcuslemonis) February 4, 2025
The letter, sent by Code Enforcement Officer for the City of Sevierville Jacob Mattern, warned Camping World that it “may not continue to utilize” the flagpole and that the business has “30 days to bring the property into full compliance,” further threatening “legal action and/or issuing citations.”
“The property may not continue to utilize the aforementioned structure, and you are hereby noticed that you have 30 days to bring the property into full compliance. Failure to remove the flagpole may result in the city seeking legal action and/or issuing citations until the property has been brought into compliance,” the letter said.
Lemonis (pictured here), who has faced similar fights in recent years with city councils across multiple different states to fly large American flags over Camping World locations, stood his ground on Tuesday, saying that the 3,200 sq. ft. American flag at its Kodak location will continue to fly.
“[T]he flag and flagpole aren’t coming down,” Lemonis wrote in a post published to X. “We are excited to continue to send all the new tax revenue from the 20 million dollar facility we built in your town on former farmland.”
Camping World’s Kodak location opened in May 2024. The company has five locations across Tennessee.
In addition to his role as CEO of Camping World, Lemonis is also known for hosting the documentary-style reality television show on CNBC called “The Profit.”
Within his entrepreneurial career, Lemonis has faced criticism in the past for his public statements in the political realm.
In 2017, Lemonis took issue with President Donald Trump’s 2017 press conference remarks related to the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally – often referred to a the “Fine People Hoax” – sending the message to Camping World customers at the time of “don’t shop at my business” if they supported Trump’s comments.
After receiving backlash for his comments directed towards consumers, Lemonis issued an apology to consumers and Camping World employees for speaking on a subject he “shouldn’t have.”
“I made the mistake of letting my fear and emotion talk about subjects that I shouldn’t have. As the CEO of a business, I am responsible to take care of the people that work there…My apology is sincere,” Lemonis wrote in a two-page letter at the time.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
