DC pizza chain under fire over ‘racist’ dessert named after former mayor
The wife of a controversial D.C. mayor isn't happy about a dessert named after her late husband
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The wife of a controversial former D.C. mayor isn't happy about a dessert named after her late husband.
Cora Masters Barry called the newly launched "Marion Barry Knots" at restaurant chain &pizza "racist and disrespectful."
"Bump up the party with our all-new Marion Berry Knots! Wanna know what you’re getting into?" the chain, &pizza, said in a press release of the limited-time item. "These delicious, doughy knots are stuffed with berries, drizzled with creamy vanilla icing and topped with powdered sugar. And then a little more powdered sugar. (Enough powder for you and a few friends!) It’s criminal how good these are."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Barry, who died in 2014, was elected D.C. mayor in 1978 and served three consecutive terms. He was reelected in 1994 after he served time for possession of crack cocaine, garnering national attention.
"For a good time, it’s the powder that’s the ultimate headline grabber. The Marion Berry Knots have enough powdered sugar that will have customers bumping elbows to order and even force the DEA to look twice," &pizza announced in a press release.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Marion Barry. (Getty Images)
The knots are pictured on the &pizza website in the promotional photo announcing the dessert's launch with a small pile of white powder, along with the phrase "These knots will blow you away."
"I just think it’s racist. In this city, it is outrageously racist. You can print that. It’s racist and disrespectful," Cora Masters Barry, Barry’s wife, told DC News Now. She said she wasn't contacted by the pizza chain about the dessert.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}D.C. Council member Christina Henderson called the dessert "tone deaf and hella disrespectful," The Washingtonian reported. Other officials called for a boycott.
"We’re talking about a marionberry, that’s spelled with an ‘e’. We stuff that into a knot, drizzle it with icing and then top it with powdered sugar. It’s delicious – we can’t wait for D.C. to try it," &Pizza CEO Mike Burns told the Washingtonian in a statement.
&pizza brands itself as an "anti-establishment establishment." Earlier this year, when Burns took over the company’s leadership role, he said he planned to return the brand to its "punk roots."
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Fox News Digital reached out to &pizza and BML Public Relations for comment.