Toronto BBQ restaurant under fire after derogatory Twitter posts
East end eatery Adamson BBQ is under fire following a slew of tweets — some derogatory and offensive — that were recently posted from the business’ social media account.
The comments surround the discussion of COVID-19, but, based on screenshots of the posts, shift from engaging with the subject of the virus to throwing slurs at others online.
While the restaurant’s Twitter account has since been deleted, restauranteur Jen Agg shared screenshots of the back-and-forth on her own account. Her initial post has been “liked” by 156 and retweeted 30 times, as of Tuesday morning.
What the actual fuck is this?? From what I can gather they seem to be v ill-informed about Covid & went after people in a truly offensive way. (They’ve deleted their twitter but their IG is still up). It never surprises me when chef bros think/talk like this but wow it’s stupid pic.twitter.com/iAc0wbQVLG
— Jen Agg (@TheBlackHoof) April 27, 2020
“From what I can gather they seem to be [very] ill-informed about [coronavirus and] went after people in a truly offensive way,” Agg wrote alongside the photos.
“It never surprises me when chef bros think/talk like this, but wow it’s stupid.”
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Agg followed her original post up with several more tweets, including screenshots captured by another individual that also show offensive remarks.
The tweet includes photos of Instagram comments wherein Adamson BBQ writes that their choice of language “clearly made a lot of people miss the message.”
Here’s some more… https://t.co/PdlbnsBH3z jfc
— Jen Agg (@TheBlackHoof) April 27, 2020
The whole issue, it seems, stemmed from reports that young coronavirus patients are suffering strokes as a result of the virus.
The BBQ joint argued, via Twitter and Instagram, that the article was sensationalized, and readers should think critically about the content they read instead of “lapping it up.”
Words and phrases used in the spot’s retorts included “braindead bootlicking moron,” “blubbering braindead r*tard,” “f*cking r*tard,” and others.
“Using the word retard was a terrible choice. Regardless of verbiage, I made some poor decisions with those comments. Instead of continuing with a logical review of the information, I name called and it was childish,” Adam Skelly, who owns the restaurant and was behind the social media posts, told Daily Hive.
“I’m certainly paying the price with the backlash today. Messaged received, loud and clear.”
Skelly said that he has close family members with mental and physical disabilities, and he wasn’t thinking of them or anyone — except for the person he was responding — to when he made the comments.
He describes his choice of words as a “schoolyard insult” that was “immature.”
https://twitter.com/adamsonbarbecue
When asked about why the restaurant’s Twitter account was deleted, Skelly said it was a move he hoped would help protect his neighbouring business — a popular pizza joint.
“The guys who posted the screenshots started linking me to Conspiracy Pizza, which I don’t own. I saw the incoming threat for Dan [Rios, the spot’s founder] (who doesn’t agree with me on anything political) so I DM’d them both and deleted the account before I could fuck it up even worse,” Skelly said.
He emphasized that he has no financial affiliation with Conspiracy.
“[The] discussion is open on Instagram,” he said.
Literally….what? pic.twitter.com/KMUpIZztr0
— Jen Agg (@TheBlackHoof) April 27, 2020
On Monday afternoon, Agg took to Instagram, commenting under Adamson BBQ’s most recent post, “take the [loss] dude.”
To that, the joint replied, “you’re in my logical safe space [please] apologize or leave.”
Never got around to trying their food and now I never will.
— 🎃👻💀kirthan🧟♀️ (@fatdeathfemmeco) April 27, 2020
Several people have commented on Agg’s Twitter thread to say that they will not be returning to the BBQ restaurant.
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