A New Jersey restaurant put a hamburger on its menu dedicated to the “Proud Boys” — leading to a massive online backlash and the owner apologizing for appearing to honor the far-right group.
Aqua Blu Kitchen & Cocktails’ “Proud Boys Burger” included ingredients that were listed on the menu as “white American cheese,” “layers of truth,” “cancel culture coleslaw,” and “liberty sauce.”
After an online firestorm of outrage began when a customer uploaded a picture of the menu, owner Cathy Varriale tried to distance herself from her eatery’s greasy item.
“I know this may sound ridiculous, but I didn’t know what a Proud Boy was,” she told NJ Advance Media, explaining that the idea for the burger came from one of her chefs.
“I thought it was, you know, a proud boy.”
Varriale – who noted her eatery has previously featured both a Sleepy Joe and a Trump Burger – said her phone and inbox were flooded with messages after the special was advertised in a now-deleted Facebook post as “layered with boldness and liberty.”
She quickly asked her chef if the burger represented something disrespectful before removing the post and reprinting the menus. But her efforts didn’t stop the poor reception, which she said has been a “nightmare,” the outlet reported.
“Now that I know what it is, I completely understand,” the emotional owner said.
“But how do you fix it? I don’t know how to fix it.”
Varriale said her restaurant has featured themed burgers every Thursday for the last eight years, with the ill-named special one of four listed that night.
She had asked her staff to create two burgers this week based on their family – a request that has turned into her disputing claims that her staff and their families are linked to the Proud Boys organization.
“It was a bad decision,” Varriale said.
“It was stupidity. It was ignorance. But we do not support hatred or Nazism or any of that.”
She said angry callers have made threats of protests outside of the restaurant and others refusing to come back.
Varriale, who opened her popular eatery 13 years ago, shared a lengthy apology to Aqua Blu’s Facebook Friday morning, explaining that the burger was a mistake and her bistro stands united against hate.
“We understand how it may have been interpreted, but it was never our intention nor what we stand for. We ask that you take this into consideration as we reflect and learn from this experience,” the post, which shuttered the comments section, read.
“To those who have supported us over the years, we deeply appreciate every single one of you. Please know that we would never do anything to jeopardize the trust and respect you have for Aqua Blu. We hope you understand and accept this as a formal apology.”
The Anti-Defamation League considers the Proud Boys as a right-wing, extremist hate group that is misogynistic, Islamophobic, and anti-immigration.
Members — several-hundred strong — also espouse white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideologies, according to the ADL.
The self-described “Western chauvinists” group has been active since at least 2016, with leaders advocating for its members and followers to commit acts of violence against rivals who disagree with their extreme ideologies.
The group was famously involved in the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally where one woman was killed when she was mowed down by a Nazi sympathizer.
The burger special came just days after President Trump pardoned approximately 1,500 individuals convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.
He was freed after serving 16 months of his 22-year prison sentence – one of the longest dished out by a judge in a Jan. 6 case – for his role in orchestrating the Proud Boys’ part in the events of that day.
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