In bruh news, an Italian restaurant in New Mexico raised eyebrows for posting “Black Olives Matter” on their marquee to promote a new dish.
According to The Washington Post, Paisano’s Albuquerque location posted the sign reading, “Black Olives Matter, Try Our Tapenade” on Facebook last week. The sign hints towards Black Lives Matter, a movement that calls for justice for racial profiling against African-Americans by police officers. Rick Camugila, the owner of the restaurant, says they’ve always made pun-worthy signs to promote their pizzas and pasta dishes.
Despite the ongoing racial tensions and hashtags honoring black and brown lives, Camugila just wanted people to laugh.
Restaurant's ill-advised 'Black Olives Matter' sign sparks controversy https://t.co/0DaMidouz3 pic.twitter.com/Net8X6xdVQ
— Eater (@Eater) July 18, 2016
“We put up what we thought was a cute play on words, which we do commonly here at the restaurant,” he said. “We were trying to promote our pan-seared Ahi tuna with a black olive tapenade relish. And so we put ‘black olives matter, try our tapenade.’ We didn’t think anybody would be offended by that. It was not our intent to offend anybody.”
Former customers shared their thoughts on the sign, claiming they were offended by the joke. One user chopped the joke to an industry tongue and cheek humor. “In our industry humor is the only thing that takes the stress away from our job,” the user wrote. “It’s unfortunate the only people who work in the trade will understand.”
On Friday (July 15), the restaurant thanked their supporters and claims the sign helped sell even more black olive pizzas (bruh).
The restaurant eventually changed the sign with a new deal cause, bruh.