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So-called ‘racist’ dessert named after former mayor lands DC pizza chain in hot seat

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A new dessert at a Washington, D.C. pizza shop is being called “racist and disrespectful” by the widow of a former Democrat mayor.

The restaurant chain &pizza announced a limited-time offering on its menu with a name that is similar to former Mayor Marion Barry who died in 2014. But the new “Marion Berry Knots” are not making a splash with Cora Masters Barry who let her disapproval be known.

“I just think it’s racist. In this city, it is outrageously racist. You can print that. It’s racist and disrespectful,” she told DC News Now, saying she wasn’t contacted by the pizza chain about the product.

But &pizza CEO Mike Burns pointed out an important feature.

“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,” he said in a statement.

“These knots will BLOW you away!” the pizza chain’s menu declares.

“Bump up the party with our all-new Marion Berry Knots!” the description reads. “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.”

Barry served three consecutive terms after being elected D.C. mayor in 1978. He served time for possession of crack cocaine and went on to be re-elected in 1994.

D.C. activist Ron Moten joined Barry’s widow and other locals in criticizing the pizza chain and called for a boycott, writing on Instagram: ” You can’t spit on Marrion Barry’s grave and think there won’t be and consequences.”

“You’re making a mockery of people who have this issue!” Moten said, according to WUSA. “On top of that, you’re making a mockery of a man who our children need to know about…[Our children] need to know about the things he’s done as a leader, the things he did with SNCC, the things he did with Washington DC, building up U street, where this guy has a restaurant, right? For him to have an opportunity to do what he’s doing right now, they need to know about that, so they know they can fall down and get back up.”

Even the NAACP’s D.C. branch got in on the criticism.

On social media, X users piled on the dessert item and its disrespect to the former mayor. But many others dismissed the meltdown and offered a different perspective.

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