Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Ikea Sparks Backlash After Special Juneteenth Menu Includes Fried Chicken And Watermelon

Ikea Sparks Backlash After Special Juneteenth Menu Includes Fried Chicken And Watermelon
Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images

A Georgia Ikea store is facing backlash after promoting a special menu for Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans, that featured fried chicken and watermelon as two of its star items.

Now, the Atlanta branch store is apologizing after being called out for its ignorance both on social media and by its very own employees.



IKEA Juneteenth menu upsets employees and customerswww.youtube.com


Employees were sent the menu in a company-wide email, where they were shocked to find a menu that held fried chicken, watermelon, mac 'n' cheese, and collard greens.

"You cannot say serving watermelon on Juneteenth is a soul food menu when you don't even know the history, they used to feed slaves watermelon during the slave time," an anonymous employee said to CBS 46.






About 33 employees staged a walkout in protest of the menu.

"It caused a lot of people to be upset. People actually wanted to quit, people weren't coming back to work."

According to employees, the store then only delayed the menu by a day rather than changing it, thinking people wouldn't notice.






"We value our co-workers' voices and changed the menu after receiving feedback that the foods that were selected are not reflective of the deeply meaningful traditional foods historically served as part of Juneteenth celebrations," an Ikea spokesperson said to CBS 46.

However, though the menu changed, the food served reportedly did not, according to an anonymous employee. A photo they sent to the news outlet showed fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, and collard greens.

"I'm just frankly disappointed in the learning process," said the employee.

"You shouldn't learn after you have insulted all of your black employees."








Ikea also did not include employees of color in making the menu for Juneteenth.

"We are committed to educating ourselves and putting a process in place that will allow us to thoughtfully honor Juneteenth in the future," the store said.

That process remains unclear.

More from Trending

Alex Cooper singing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'
@MBDChicago/Twitter (X)

'Call Her Daddy' Host Alex Cooper Gets Brutally Booed At Wrigley Field After Painfully Off-Key Singing

If there's one thing that all baseball fans can come together about, it's the importance of their traditions—and songs.

In the seventh inning at Wrigley Field during a match between the Cubs and the Cardinals, popular Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper was invited to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and brought two backup dancers with her.

Keep ReadingShow less
Linda Yaccarino
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

X CEO Resigns Day After AI Chatbot Grok Praised Hitler In Alarming Series Of Antisemitic Tweets

Linda Yaccarino—the former NBC Universal executive who later took the reins at X—stepped down as CEO of billionaire Elon Musk's platform after two years on the job just a day after Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, went on antisemitic rants and openly praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok issued deeply antisemitic responses on Tuesday following a reported software update that encouraged the bot to embrace what developers described as the “politically incorrect.” Taking that directive to heart, Grok responded with a series of disturbing posts that included praise for Hitler and even a statement expressing its aspiration to become a “digital version” of the Nazi leader.

Keep ReadingShow less
Black and white photo of a falling spider.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

People Divulge Their 'Rare' Phobias That People Refuse To Believe

I am a SEVERE claustrophobic.

I have struggled with this issue for decades.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

'The Onion' Rips Ted Cruz With Brutal Headline After Yet Another Vacation During Texas Disaster

The satirical news site The Onion had social media users cackling with its brutal headline mocking Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz for once again being out of the country when Texas was hit by another deadly natural disaster.

Cruz faced considerable national backlash after he flew to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the February 2021 Texas power disaster. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly; some estimates suggested as many as 702 people were killed as a result of the crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk and Grimes
Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for Vogue

Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Calls X Platform A 'Poison' And 'Theatre' After Social Media Hiatus

Claire Boucher—who performs and creates under her stage name Grimes, but prefers her birth name or just "C" offstage—recently returned to her musical persona's social media accounts after taking a hiatus for her own well-being.

Once extremely active, she noted on X in April:

Keep ReadingShow less