A restaurant in a small town in Rhode Island has made the wrong kind of social media waves after using an image of Anne Frank in a post about a recent heat wave.
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Last weekend, the Atlantic Sports Bar and Restaurant posted to social media the well-known black and white image of the teen writer who died in the Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp overlaid with the words, "It's hotter than an oven out there … and I should know!" in a meme-style font.
The post garnered responses accusing it of racism. Some users urged followers not to dine there until the restaurant issued an apology, others expressed astonishment that anyone could think the post was amusing.
One user asked if a "side of Nazism" was on the menu.
Some of the posts accusing the restaurant of racism were deleted by the account admins. Local radio host Jessica Machado of 1420 WBSM said she had reached out to the restaurant owner, who told her that in his opinion, the meme was funny, said he was busy, and told her not to call him again.
After the scandal caught the attention of the national media, the local ABC affiliate spoke with one of the restaurant's employees, who claimed that the person who had posted the picture thought it was funny, but had not known who Anne Frank was. He said that the moment the employee learned who she was, the post was deleted.
Access to the restaurant's Facebook page has since been limited.
Tomer Aldubi, the founder of Fighting Online Antisemitism, said, "It's exciting to see once again the hatred of the Holocaust among our anti-Semitic haters. The restaurant staff's anger or ignorance yet again proves how much antisemitic rhetoric is present on social media. I appreciate the users who reacted strongly to that post. From our experience, we know posts such as these can be removed through massive reporting of content like this. Anyone exposed to antisemitic content online is urged to report the content and contact us for professional assistance, if necessary."
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