Brian of PizzaSpotz
Restaurant's ill-advised 'Black Olives Matter' sign sparks controversy https://t.co/0DaMidouz3 pic.twitter.com/Net8X6xdVQ
— Eater (@Eater) July 18, 2016
Black Lives
Not sure if you saw this controversial sign when it was first put out last summer, but it caused an uproar. The Black Lives Matter movement was in full stride in the summer of 2016. The movement held protests in cities all across the country. Five police officers were killed at one such event in Dallas, TX. Then there was Albuquerque, NM, where the ownwers of Piasano’s Italian Restaurant took the name of a movement and made a pun out of it, using it to gain noteriety.
Black Olives
The food pun, “Black Olives Matter,” was funny to most pizza people as black olives are one of the most hated toppings in the pizza world, maybe second only to anchovies. If a black olive is found on a veggie pizza or a pizza with everything on it, they are often picked off and left to the side. The sign was an attempt at humor, nothing else.
Reporters from papers such as the Washington Post even inquired of the owner Rick Camuglia, why he put those words on the sign outside his restaurant.
Although the sign was taken down, reading this article from the Washington Post shows you that Rick was not too apologetic for the sign and the pun.
I doubt he’ll use the word black in any future signs, in order not to offend anyone, but that is yet to be seen.
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