The Chops & Hops restaurant in Watkinsville removed a celebrity “black and bleu” sandwich from its menu this weekend after owners suggested it was inspired by singer Chris Brown's physical assault against former girlfriend Rihanna.
In response to Twitter postings that found the promotion in poor taste, the Oconee County restaurant also apologized and promised to give proceeds from the sandwich's sales to a local domestic violence prevention group.
In promoting the sandwich Chops & Hops tweeted that “@chrisbrown, @rihanna and us teamed up for a award winning celebrity sandwich.”
“Chris Brown won’t beat you up for eating this unless your name starts with a R and ends with A,” the tweet said.
The “black and bleu” sandwich featured Caribbean spiced marinated sliced ribeye blackened, bleu cheese, sliced tomato, silver Lamborghini onions and shredded Romaine.
A manager at the restaurant Saturday referred calls to Chop & Hops’ owners. A message left for one of the owners was not immediately returned.
Brown was arrested after attacking Rihanna in his vehicle in Los Angeles on the eve of the 2009 Grammys. He pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to community service. The top superstars have since reconciled and Brown appears on a remix of Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake” hit song.
An image of her injuries at the time showed Rihanna bleeding around her lips, welts on her forehead and marks on her cheek. Brown is still on probation for the assault.
“The owners of C&H would like to make sure everyone knows that we and our staff DO NOT SUPPORT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE,” the owners said in a Saturday tweet. “Many of us have been affected by domestic violence in some manner and realize that this is no joke.”
The restaurant, on South Main Street in Watkinsville, which is south of Athens, said the sandwich was only on the menu for Friday. “It is not on the menu nor will it ever be,” the restaurant's tweet said.
Some Twitter postings criticized the restaurant for promoting the sandwich.
“Businesses should be allowed to say what they like (hooray freedom of speech!) but it goes both ways, and they should also then be held accountable for saying those things. That's one thing being a grown-up is all about,” said Bon Rappetite in a tweet.
Others accepted the restaurant’s apology and its decisions to remove the menu item and donate proceeds.
“Was it in poor taste? YES!! But they've apologized and are making amends by donating proceeds,” said Kelli-David Chase.
Cindy Svec tweeted, "It was tacky, they apologized and made it good with donations, they ate crow, MOVE ON!"
And Jen Gallatin Graham had advice to the owners: “[I]f you plan on bringing it back I might suggest you name it after an MMA [mixed martial arts] fighter, or hockey player, or something, anything except a woman who was beaten.”
While the restaurant did not disclose the amount, it said it will donate six times the proceeds from the sandwich to Project Safe Team 6, which it said it has supported in the past. The group is a nonprofit that works to end domestic violence.
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