A man in Maine was forced to appeal after officials recalled his vegan-themed license plate for being too offensive to be on the road.
As per NBC News, the plate was removed as part of a state-wide crackdown on vanity license plates that could be interpreted as vulgar.
In the last year, it recalled 274 vanity plates that were deemed too far, after previously having allowed swear words and vulgar sayings to be displayed on cars.
Among those was that of Peter Starostecki, whose plate had proclaimed his love of tofu - but could also be read to have a very different meaning...
Starostecki's license plate read 'LUVTOFU' next to a bunch of bumper stickers also themed around veganism.
However, officials banned his plate in January due to some people splitting the word 'tofu' in half and, well, you don't need us to spell it out to you.
He'd appealed their decision in a Zoom meeting with a hearing examiner for the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles and told CBS13 News: "I'm just a vegan, no ill intentions.
"It's sort of my small little protest to say that I stand for going away from using animal products."
Starostecki added: "I've never had anybody come up and be aggressive to me, flip me off, tell me it's inappropriate. Every time that I ever have a comment about it, it's something positive."
He attended the online hearing to protest against his number plate being removed, but it was rejected because the plates have to be looked at "without context" so his bumper stickers and the fact he is vegan couldn't be taken into account.
Starostecki added: "From the beginning, it felt like they sort of had their minds made up."
He revealed that he was offered an alternative plate reading "V3GAN" but turned it down in favor of going back to a standard plate instead, however, added that he wouldn't rule out another vanity plate in the future.
Despite losing his own plates in the crackdown, Starostecki admitted he does agree with vulgar and offensive license plates being banned by the state.
Director of Communications for the Secretary of State Emily Cook told CBS13 News: "The license plate is owned by the state and there is no right to force the state to have these sort of words and slogans."
