A New England restaurant issued an apology on Monday following backlash to a meme it posted to social media that many viewed as antisemitic.
The situation began on Friday when the Atlantic Sports Bar and Restaurant in Tiverton, Rhode Island, posted a meme to its official Facebook page about the recent heatwave that hit the Northeast U.S., according to WLNE News. The meme featured a famous black and white photo of Anne Frank and made a joking reference to “an oven.”
In the immediate aftermath of the offensive post, some users began to accuse the restaurant of deleting negative comments, the Daily Beast added.
The restaurant has also pledged to stay “vigilant in vetting all social media posts to ensure that nothing like the events of this past week ever happen again.”
“We appreciate the outpouring of support, as well as the outpouring of rightful criticism, this will certainly be a teachable moment for our team,” the restaurant said, according to WLNE.
As of Tuesday, the Atlantic Sports Bar & Restaurant’s Facebook page could no longer be viewed. The page does not appear when searched for on Facebook, and when the link is clicked after a Google search, a message appears noting that the page “isn’t available right now.” It explains that when this happens to Facebook pages, it is “usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it, or it’s been deleted.”
