Yahoo Finance Walmart Faces Backlash For Refusing To Bake A "Blue Lives Matter" Cake
When it comes to culinary controversies, cakes continue to be a leading cause of online feuds. After a series of bake shops were court-ordered to serve same-sex couples and one mom lashed out at another bakery for making teddy bears anatomically correct, the confection continues to be at the center of hot-button political issues.
Most recently, Walmart came under fire for refusing to create a "thin blue line" cake, making headlines on conservative news sites after the customer revealed it was for her father's retirement from the police force.
According to Fortune, three employees at the Walmart in McDonough, GA just outside of Atlanta refused to bake and decorate a cake with the message "Blue Lives Matter."
"One of the bakers told me the design could be perceived as racist and nobody feels comfortable decorating the cake," 21-year-old Jordan Harkins, who tried to order the cake, told conservative radio host Todd Starnes, explaining that she then stormed out of the store. "I was so shocked. I didn't know what to do or say or anything. I was trying not to lose my temper or make a scene."
After a friend posted about the incident on Facebook-and garnered angry comments aplenty-the store's manager called Harkins to apologize and ended up making the cake. Meanwhile, Walmart's corporate communications department issued a statement:
"Our goal is to always take care of customers. But, sometimes we misstep. We're glad we were able to connect with the family to apologize and make this right," the retailer said in a statement. But that isn't enough for Harkins, who told NBC: "This doesn't make up for the fact that it shouldn't ever have happened in the first place."
All the while, debates are firing up online over this sheet cake and whether its message is racist, whether it undermines the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and whether it should have been made at all.
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