Bagel shop removes cartoon sign after being accused of ‘blackface’

A bagel shop owner has spoken out after a viral video accusing his business of displaying a 'blackface bagel'

A New York bagel shop has removed its mascot after it became the focus of a racism storm.

Bo’s Bagels, in Harlem, had a large cardboard cut-out of a cartoon bagel outside its store.

The huge sign, which doubles as a chalkboard, shows the bagel wearing a pair of sunglasses and gold grills with Harlem World written across them and a gold ring that reads NYC.

However, the mascot has found itself at the centre of a racism row after photographer Carl Broady branded it a ‘disrespectful caricature of black people’ in a post shared on Instagram last week.

The sign’s exaggerated features, bulging lips and teeth, and darkened skin tone recall the racist caricatures historically used to degrade Black people,” he wrote.

Broady’s comments were followed by a now-viral clip, in which TikTok user Anastazia X visited the shop and said the sign was a ‘blackface bagel’.

The shop’s owner Andrew Martinez has since spoken out about the backlash telling the New York Post that he has had to remove the sign after receiving threats and harassment.

He said: “It got completely out of hand by a bunch of people who know nothing about us. And the rage was coming in from people who just wanted to call us racist.”

“They’ve reached out to my black employees and said, ‘You need to leave there because your owners hate you,’ and that’s just not true," he added.

Martinez said that his company had a great reputation in the local area.

“This is actually almost weird to us because Harlemites love us. They know what we do. We donate to schools. We give food away to the homeless shelters,” he said.

The sign was created by Harlem-based artist Tom Sanford, who has previously created works for the city including caricatures of the New York Knicks that were put on display in the City Hall during the basketball team’s winning streak this summer.

Speaking to the New York Post, Sanford defended his work, saying: “Personally, I do not see uptown streetwear culture in a negative light at all.

“To me, these items represent overwhelmingly positive cultural contributions that came from the streets of my neighborhood and crossed over into the mainstream.”

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

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