The Black community came together in support of the Black-owned restaurant Slutty Vegan after pro-cop supporters started leaving fake poor reviews for the restaurant.
It looks like we have another Honey Pot case, but this time around, people are rating Slutty Vegan poorly, falsely claiming the restaurant is refusing to feed police officers in response to George Floyd’s murder. Back on March 31, the Atlanta-based restaurant, and its owner’s Pinky Cole Foundation, teamed up to feed all essential workers in the city amid the #coronavirus pandemic.
“We are appreciative of our local health care providers and know that they are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of patients, staff, and families during COVID19 response,” said Slutty Vegan owner and operator Pinky Cole. Those included in that meal delivery donation were healthcare workers, firefighters, and police officers. The foundation went on to provide meals for the two leading medical centers in Atlanta and every firefighter in the city. However, no date had been confirmed for police officers to receive their meals.
On May 25, the world was sent into turmoil following the murder of Floyd, and tensions between police officers and communities rose to remarkable heights. Since then, millions have called out the history of racism, white supremacy and the brutality that has been inflicted upon the Black community for decades. Standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and its Black customers, Slutty Vegan released a statement via Instagram on June 1, saying that it would be temporarily holding off on its food delivery to the Atlanta police force.
“Here at Slutty Vegan, we stand firm with those fighting against social injustices. For that reason, we will not be serving police officers at this time. Sluts, please stay safe and keep working to strengthen our communities, locally and globally,” read a statement that was posted on Slutty Vegan’s Facebook page, which mentioned its COVID-19 efforts for essential workers. According to a source close to the matter, police were still welcomed to purchase their own meals and were never turned away.
Fast-forward to today, June 25, Slutty Vegan’s Google Reviews have become flooded with false and negative reviews along with one-star ratings from pro-cop supporters who are claiming they had a poor experience at the establishment. Some of the comments state the business has terrible customer service, the environment is unclean and insulted its waitresses despite the fact that the restaurant doesn’t have a wait staff. Some even blatantly said they are rating the restaurant with one star because they believe the business is not supporting police officers. “Will not eat at this establishment, they are not okay with feeding law enforcement, so I’m not okay with giving them my money,” one review read. In addition, some of the raters have been calling the business’s customer service line harassing its employees, according to the source close to the matter.
It didn’t take long for Black Twitter and the rest of the Black community to catch on to what was happening, who then called for people to leave positive reviews for the company. “White people are rating an Atlanta restaurant #SluttyVeganATL low ratings because they are against police brutality. Please go and rate them five stars,” wrote a Twitter user.
The false ratings seem to have started up after a woman reposted Slutty Vegan’s statements in a Facebook group called Georgia Backs the Blue.
“So now Police Officers can’t eat at Slutty Vegan! Wow…. All Police aren’t bad! No problem….and everybody says to support black businesses….Smh!” wrote Facebook user Tamika Prichett. Cole has been a powerhouse behind promoting and supporting the Black community. She recently donated an estimated $600,000 to cover the college tuition, meals, and room and board of police-slain Rayshard Brooks’ four children. The restaurant has been backed and shown love by numerous celebs, including Usher, Offset, SnoopDogg and more.
Scary that the the mess was started by a sister. Cannot trust even skin folks. Sad!
Heckin white supremacists everywhere!