News that New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution, brought forth no shortage of jokes on the internet. However, a BBQ restaurant in Upstate New York has definitely taken things to a new level.
For a limited time, the Syracuse-based restaurant chain known as Dinosaur BBQ offered a “Jerked and Pulled Chicken Sandwich” to their menu, in recognition of Kraft’s prostitution charge.
In a since deleted post, Dinosaur posted their special offer to Twitter on Monday. However, the restaurant began facing some backlash for the offer.
Some of the most serious criticism came from the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center. A group that Dinosaur has donated to in the past, but was uncomfortable accepting the restaurant’s money after the Kraft-themed sandwich campaign.
Although we appreciate the support of Dinosaur BBQ and their patrons, we respectfully ask you to remove this social media post. We can not accept donations from this. This post does a disservice to our mission and support of the clients we serve. Human Trafficking should not be taken lightly. This post does not honor or support the victims of Mr. Kraft and at no time should victims be made to feel as if they are a pun to a joke. Donating to our cause and mission is something that we value but not at the expense of victims/survivors. Our hope is to educate our community about the severity and impact of Human Trafficking, for it exist in our own community.
A representative from Dinosaur called the campaign a poorly planned “joke.”
It was a joke that we didn’t completely think through. We apologize to anyone who was offended from the human trafficking aspect.
“On Tuesday, the McMahon/Ryan center posted an update to Facebook that it had spoken with the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que owners, and that they were committed to supporting child advocacy causes in a more tasteful manner,” according to USA Today Sports.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn