Local businesses face backlash over George Floyd social media posts
HOUSTON - Some local businesses have gotten a firestorm of backlash over social media posts following the death of George Floyd, and accusations of racism have turned into trouble for business owners.
Kam Franklin, activist and lead singer of The Suffers reposted a message from a co-owner of Cuchara Restaurant. In the post to his personal page, Charlie McDaniel complains about the lack of social distancing during the city-wide George Floyd protest organized by Bun B and Trae Tha Truth. He calls the protest a “parade” which angered many social media users.
“I tried to handle that situation with the owners privately by reaching out to their peers and asking them to call it out and asking them to speak up and nobody did anything,” says Franklin.
McDaniel says he hasn’t had the opportunity to share his side of the story after being accused of racism and receiving thousands of hate messages and threats to his life and business.
“My intention was about social distancing not being fair; take the requirement off our restaurant,” says McDaniel.
He says he first heard protest speakers call it a parade, and posted an apology to the Cuchara Facebook page but later removed the post after the hate messages continued and blocking hundreds of users proved ineffective.
“I don't condone hate in any circumstance. We took down the posts so they couldn't respond,” he says.
On his original post, users lashed out at the co-owner of Nourish Juice Bar for her replies that the protests were racist, saying blacks kill more blacks than cops.
She declined an interview but also issued an apology, adding that she was making a donation to the NAACP.
Another storm hit the account of Infinity Diagnostics Center after several posts went up on the company’s Instagram page stating the business does not support African Americans.
One post reads, “If we kept them picking cotton, we wouldn't be having these issues with them."
The owner says the account was hacked, and she is working with an attorney and police, but that hasn't prevented backlash and threats.
As for Cuchara, McDaniel says he won't post personal opinions online anymore.
For all three businesses, direct posts to Yelp have been disabled after a flood of bad reviews.
Meanwhile, influencers say they are not backing down from investigating and exposing controversial content, and business owners who post them will have to deal with the consequences.