Popular ‘Edgars’ haircut linked to crime, prompting calls to ban those rocking ‘gang-influenced’ style (2024)

A stigmatized style sparked a social media dispute over the correlation between crime in Texas and “people who just happened to have this same hair cut.”

“…you’re basically banning every mexican teenager.”

On April 28, a gunfight between two suspects at Fiesta De Los Reyes in San Antonio, Texas saw five people wounded and the men responsible dead. Micky Valdez, 18, who was pronounced dead on the scene after officers fired on him was reportedly sporting an “Edgar Cut,” renewing calls to prohibit the style “influenced by gang affiliation.”

Not long after the incident, San Antonio restauranteur Ricky Ortiz, owner of El Camino, posted an image on social media of the hairstyle crossed out in red over the words “NO EDGARS” with the caption, “Should we enforce a no chili bowl policy?”

He also reportedly posted on the day of the incident, “Market square is what carnival used to be. Fiesta commission needs to fence the whole thing off, charge a cover and have a no Edgar policy. A good chunk of the people in this city are absolute [garbage]. Make it unaffordable for them to even attend.”

The takes drew heavy backlash including remarks like, “I hope you have the day you deserve,” and “a no edgar policy is crazy you’re basically banning every mexican teenager.”

a no edgar policy is crazy you’re basically banning every mexican teenager https://t.co/V31HRnsjjI

— cloud lors (@xanathgum) May 8, 2024

While Ortiz was not the first person to suggest such a ban, the attention from his public callout had him defending his post to the San Antonio Current, “People accusing me of racism are speaking from a place of ignorance. They don’t want to acknowledge or admit that the majority of the kids that are getting these haircuts want to be in a culture influenced by gang affiliation and things like that.”

He went as far as to admit to the Current he himself was involved in “hood rat sh*t” as a teen when he also wore the hairstyle before later asserting to KSAT, “It was just a joke.”

However, many agreed with Ortiz and commented on the original post with takes like, “Yes, please!!!!! This should be enforced everywhere…” and, “I personally would not want my middle school age boys to get the Edgar haircut.”

Speaking with the Daily Mail, the person behind the Instagram account @therealfitfamElPaso expressed, “Especially in El Paso, we’ve had a lot of crimes that were committed by people who just happened to have this same haircut.”

“Where we are now, we just kind of correlate these guys to be bad dudes, even though there’s plenty of good dudes with the same cut,” added the social media account administrator.

While it isn’t agreed upon where the style originated, aol.com previously attributed the name of the hairstyle to former Seattle Mariners third baseman Edgar Martínez.

In addition to recent calls to see the haircut done away with, the Mail noted that students from Riverside High School in El Paso had started a petition to ban the “Edgar Cut,” calling it a violation of the dress code “due to its detrimental effects concerning our education, as it provokes distraction, antagonizes the general student population, and has become a general nuisance forthwith.”

Their 2021 effort ended without success, two years before Texas Gov. Greg Abbot signed the CROWN Act prohibiting housing, education, and employment-based discrimination on hair textures and styles.

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