Minibar, an Austin, Texas drinking establishment, is under fire for a sign outside the door that jokes, “I like my beer like I like my violence: domestic.”
After Austin resident Seetha Kulandaisamy shared a picture of the sign on Facebook and Instagram, the image went viral and grabbed national attention.
“I walked by the sign on Friday night, and my first response was just anger,” Kulandaisamy said. “I currently am a volunteer at the women’s shelter in Austin.”
“My sensitivity is extra high, but I think my reaction would have been the same regardless. Not only was it offensive, but it was also just bad humor.”
It’s true. Unless the sign is being ironic and implying it doesn’t like domestic beer (there is a Heineken logo up top), this is just an epic fail all around.
Minibar, to its credit, removed the sign the following morning, fired the employee responsible for posting it and issued a public mea culpa for the incident.
“Minibar doesn’t condone that sign,” owner Alex Elmiger said.
“I give my utmost apology and assure it won’t happen again. As soon as it was brought to my attention, I wanted to do something to rectify the situation.”
Best of all, Minibar plans to donate $1 of every domestic beer sold in the month of October to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (above, right).
In that sense, the negative attention has been turned into a positive. But really, people. There’s nothing funny about going Chris Brown on someone.