BBQ ‘jerks’ under fire for Kraft ad
A barbecue restaurant’s social media post about New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is drawing criticism after making light of the NFL owner’s legal situation with a menu item, the proceeds of which would go to a children’s advocacy group.
In now deleted Facebook and Twitter posts, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, a New York chain with locations in the city as well as upstate, advertised a pulled- and jerked-chicken sandwich called the “Robert Kraft.”
“This week only stop into the Syracuse Dinosaur to get a ‘Robert Kraft’ aka the Jerked and Pulled Chicken Sandwich,” the restaurant wrote.
The restaurant added Sunday afternoon that a portion of the proceeds would be sent to the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center, a Syracusebased organization dedicated to freeing kids “from abuse and exploitation.”
Kraft was charged Monday for soliciting prostitution as part of a larger investigation into a sex trafficking ring.
Kraft allegedly visited the Florida day spa at the center of the inquiry on two occasions and paid for sex acts.
After the restaurant published its post Sunday, a wave of criticism followed.
“Yikes,” one Twitter user responded.
“I hope the [person responsible] is getting fired,” another tweeted, according to Syracuse.com.
The posts were deleted on Monday after McMahon/Ryan also called the restaurant out.
“We do not support @Dinosaur_BBQ of their post regarding Mr. Kraft and their reference to Human Trafficking,” the organization wrote. “When we saw the post we did try to reach out to them with no luck. We can not accept donations that contradict our mission.”