Latest news with #blaq.monalisa
Hindustan Times
22-06-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Kroger responds to backlash over ‘lazy' Juneteenth cakes: ‘The products have been…'
A woman in Atlanta, Georgia, posted a video on TikTok this week from inside her local Kroger. She showed cakes from the bakery section that were meant to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday marking the end of slavery in the US. A woman in TikTok posted video that shows Kroger has made 'ugly' cakes with messy icing and odd messages.(REUTERS) 'This is some bulls***,' she said in the video. 'Who the hell made this ugly a** s***. I wish there was a manager around here because y'all decorate everything else around here cute.' She pointed out cookie cakes with messy icing and odd messages like 'Free @ Last' and 'June 19 Free.' One cake just had plain white frosting on the edges and said only: 'Free.' 'For Juneteenth you want to just throw something on a freaking cookie cake and expect someone to buy it?' she added. 'That's bulls***.' She also said she planned to come back to the store the next day to speak to an employee about the cakes. 'Kroger, count your days. Why even bother if you're going to lack creativity,' she wrote in the video's caption. 'This is a mockery!' Also Read: Kroger employees affected by closure of 60 stores to be offered jobs at nearby stores Kroger apologizes for 'lazy' Juneteenth cakes Kroger responded to the video in a statement saying: 'The cakes and cookies that were featured in the video were inconsistent with our provided guidance and not of the quality we would expect to see from our stores. The products have been removed, and we've addressed this directly with the store teams and the customer who took the initial video,' as reported by the Independent report. Netizens slam Kroger for sloppy cakes The TikTok video, posted by @ has over 10.4 million views, and the comments are filled with people criticizing Kroger. ''Free @ last' is diabolical,' one person wrote. Another said, 'They were better off just not acknowledging Juneteenth.' 'This is funny but NOT funny,' someone else said. 'I'm highly disappointed in Kroger.' Another comment read: 'If you didn't bring up Juneteenth, I would've thought it was a welcome home from jail cake.' A lot of people also compared it to Walmart's Juneteenth ice cream from 2022. That product was taken off the shelves after people said it was trying to profit off a Black holiday without real support for Black communities or workers. Kroger said, "Juneteenth holiday marks a commemoration and celebration of freedom and independence. However, we received feedback that a few items caused concern for some of our customers, and we sincerely apologize. We are reviewing our assortment and will remove items as appropriate.' (By Varnika Srivastava)
NBC News
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Kroger's Juneteenth cakes spark backlash: ‘This is a mockery!'
A Kroger in Atlanta, Georgia is going viral for its Juneteenth cake offerings. A TikTok video posted on June 17 shows haphazardly decorated desserts sitting in the bakery section of the supermarket. 'This is some bulls---,' TikToker @ says at the start of the video. 'Who the hell made this ugly-ass s---?' The video, which now has over 10 million views, shows shelves stocked with birthday cakes and other treats, then lands on a table selling Juneteenth cookie cakes. 'Y'all decorate everything else around here cute, everything else around here cute,' the TikToker says. 'But for Juneteenth, you wanna just throw something on a freaking cookie cake and expect someone to buy it.' Several desserts are shown, some with printed designs, others featuring phrases like 'FREE,' 'June 19 Free,' 'Congratulations' and 'Free @ Last' written off-center in icing. The phrase 'free at last' is known for being a prominent part of Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech, borrowed from the title of a Negro-Spiritual song. And now the phrase, which represents a hard-fought struggle, is being featured on a supermarket cake, casually scribbled in internet shorthand. 'I'm a be in here bright, early in the morning to talk to somebody about this, because this is unacceptable,' concludes the TikToker, who did not respond to request for comment. 'Kroger count your days,' they added in the post's caption. 'Why even bother if you're going to lack creativity … This is a mockery!' In the comments section of the video, many agreed. 'Free @ last is just insane 😭😭😭😭,' commented one TikTok user. 'It's giving 'here damn' 💀,' wrote another. 'Gurl! Not the last one saying Congratulations,' added someone else. 'Like Congratulations You're free! 🤦🏽♀️🤭.' 'I would absolutely take that cake that says FREE,' wrote one Reddit user, and another replied, 'Yea I mean it's says FREE I thought it was free.' For its part, Kroger says the desserts featured in the video were 'inconsistent' with its 'provided guidance.' 'The products have been removed, and we've addressed this directly with the store teams and the customer who took the initial video,' it added. The removal of the controversial cookie cakes was confirmed by @ in a follow-up TikTok video. 'I still feel some type of way that they didn't replace them with better Juneteenth cakes,' she says. However, there were some folks on the internet who felt 'mixed' on the issue. An alleged Kroger employee on Reddit wrote, 'I understand that people here are overworked and underpaid like crazy. However, admittedly these cake are not the best looking and def could've been made better.' In response, other Reddit users said, 'It looks like they don't have an experienced cake decorator,' and pointed out that 'it was probably someone with minimal training and not much time, doing their best.' Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced enslaved people were free. This was two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. In June 1883, the Galveston Daily News reported on the 18th annual Emancipation Day — what would today be considered Juneteenth — celebrations across Texas. In 2022, Walmart drew backlash for releasing its own Juneteenth-themed ice cream, which critics said attempted to capitalize on a Black holiday rather than highlight already existing Black-owned ice cream brands. The chain later apologized to customers, writing, 'Juneteenth holiday marks a commemoration and celebration of freedom and independence. However, we received feedback that a few items caused concern for some of our customers and we sincerely apologize.'
Newsweek
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Kroger Responds After Georgia Juneteenth Cakes Go Viral
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A Kroger spokesperson responded to viral backlash over Juneteenth cakes sold in one Georgia grocery store in a statement to Newsweek on Thursday. Why It Matters Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, became an official federal holiday in 2021, though it has been celebrated in African American communities since the 1860s. It marks the date on which Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and officially freed slaves from the westernmost part of the Confederacy. What To Know Kroger, a popular grocery store chain, drew backlash after a viral video showed what many viewed as poorly decorated cakes for the Juneteenth holiday. The video, posted to TikTok on Thursday by @ had been viewed seven million times by Thursday and garnered over 850,000 likes on the social media platform. "This is some bulls***," she said in the video. "Who the hell made these ugly-a** s***? I wish there was a manager here because ya'll decorate everything else around here cute. Everything else around here cute, but for Juneteenth you want to just throw something on a freaking cookie cake and expect someone to buy it? That's bulls***." The video showed several cookie cakes with minimal decoration and sloppy piping, featuring text such as "Free @ Last" or "June 19 FREE." One cake simply read, "FREE." @ Kroger count your days. Why even bother if you're going to lack creativity. This is Kroger on Howell mill rd, Atlanta Ga. This is a mockery! Am I tripping, someone let me know! ♬ original sound - blaq monalisa In a statement to Newsweek, a Kroger spokesperson addressed the backlash. "The cakes and cookies that were featured in the video were inconsistent with our provided guidance and not of the quality we would expect to see from our stores. The products have been removed, and we've addressed this directly with the store teams and the customer who took the initial video," the statement reads. The cakes drew a mix of criticism and ridicule on TikTok, with some users describing the lazy nature of the designs as offensive. Others, however, found a bit of humor in the situation. What People Are Saying @Rosegotsoul commented on TikTok: "This is funny but NOT funny. I'm highly disappointed in Kroger." TikTok user Savannah Bryant commented: "ATP fire the whole bakery cuz that's deliberate." @MINA commented on TikTok: "Bc yk when 4th of July comes its finna be america's next top chef designs up in there." @L'lori made a video responding to the cakes: "This is a beautiful find of just absolute laziness. Absolute laziness. To be honest, you could have did absolutely nothing and the people would have been just as fine. Cause just slapping s*** to make a buck is like, come on now. It's very tone deaf, Kroger, and I'm very disappointed." @itskylahh commented on TikTok: "This shouldn't be this funny." Main: A customer walks into a Kroger grocery store in Houston, Texas, on September 9, 2022. Inset: A Juneteenth flag flying in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 2024. Main: A customer walks into a Kroger grocery store in Houston, Texas, on September 9, 2022. Inset: A Juneteenth flag flying in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 2024.; MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images On Reddit, u/massive_chem commented: "They don't decorate everything else there cute. She goes over and shows cakes that come in pre decorated. Everything she thinks is 'cute' came in the store looking like that. It looks like they don't have an experienced cake decorator." Reddit user u/Mrs_hippiequeen commented: "i mean, i don't think it's racially motivated or anything. looks like someone told the closer (non-decorator) to fill a table at the end of the night. they are really bad. we haven't been instructed to do anything for juneteenth at my store, so it's possible it was a last minute thing." What Happens Next The original poster shared an update on TikTok showing that the cookie cakes had been removed from the grocery store. She added, "I still feel some type of way that they didn't replace it with better Juneteenth cakes."
