A D.C.-based pizza chain is removing a controversial item from its menu after protesters demanded an apology over &pizza's ad campaign that made light of the late "Mayor for Life" Marion Barry's drug use.
&pizza promoted a new menu item Monday called Marion Berry Knots, a dessert with marionberries. The dish is “so good it’s likely a felony,” a press release said.
“For a good time, it’s the powder that’s the ultimate headline grabber. The Marion Berry Knots have enough powdered sugar that will have customers bumping elbows to order and even force the DEA to look twice,” &pizza said in ad copy full of drug references.
"Candidly, we made a mistake," &pizza CEO Mike Burns began a statement Wednesday afternoon. "And for that, we sincerely apologize."
The statement comes a day after Burns doubled down on the item: “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.”
On Wednesday, Burns wrote the item would be removed "effective immediately."
"While humor was our intent, it was regrettably off the mark," the new statement said. "[...] The parody of the former Mayor and portrayal of substance abuse was wrong."
Demonstrators protest outside &pizza shops
Demonstrators gathered Wednesday morning outside the company's location on U Street, calling for &pizza to remove the dessert from its menu and apologize.
Many people who spoke with News4 Wednesday said the ad was in poor taste. One protester described it as "degrading" to Barry's legacy.
"Also, to his family. You have to think about his family, as well. ... We have to think about - we're on U Street right now and this street carries a lot of history," protester Austin Lee told News4.
Someone vandalized the chain's location in the Skyland neighborhood of Southeast D.C. Yellow and orange paint was splattered all over the windows of the business Wednesday morning.
“We have read the countless messages and social media posts and understand the frustration this has brough forth – especially to the Barry family,” Wednesday’s statement read.
Barry's career and legacy
Barry got his start in politics as a civil rights activist and remains revered by many Washingtonians. A statue of the four-term mayor stands outside the Wilson Building in downtown D.C., and Southeast D.C. has Marion Barry Avenue SE.
He was arrested in a hotel room in 1990 in a videotaped drug sting by the FBI and D.C. police. Barry famously complained that his ex-girlfriend, an FBI informant, had set him up. Out of 14 charges, a jury convicted him of a single misdemeanor possession charge.
Barry was sentenced to six months in prison, released in 1992 and won the Ward 8 D.C. Council seat. He returned as mayor for a fourth term in 1994 and remained influential until he died in 2014 at 78. Next month marks a decade since his death.
D.C.’s NAACP branch on Tuesday called on &pizza to take the “inflammatory, culturally insensitive and drug-use insinuating” item off the menu and to “issue remuneration to support substance-abuse prevention in all cities within the &Pizza marketing area.”
NAACP DC President Akosua Ali said in a statement Tuesday: “The life, legacy, lineage and name of Marion Barry deserves to be remembered as a pioneer for economic development, real-estate development, black business empowerment, youth employment and as the Mayor of the people. Mayor Barry taught us the power of economics and today, we call on the community to demand &Pizza right this egregious wrong."
&pizza is “spitting on Marion Barry’s grave,” community activist Ron Moten said on Instagram. “[…] We cannot continue to support people who disrespect us.”
Moten said discussions are underway for a boycott of the chain, which opened its first location on H Street NE in 2012 and now has locations in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Former D.C. first lady Cora Masters Barry was hurt by the menu item and campaign, a representative told News4. She was flooded with calls from community leaders and residents who “expressed disappointment and outrage by the promotion’s interference,” the representative said. She “requested that the attorneys for the Estate of Marion Barry Jr. look into the matter and act accordingly,” the representative said.
D.C. restaurant owner Peyton Sherwood said on X that &pizza “crossed a line.”
“Barry’s life was about opportunity, dignity, and equality for everyone in Washington, D.C. To reduce that legacy to a crass ad about his darkest moments is not only offensive it’s cruel,” he wrote. “It disregards the immense good Barry did for this city and the battles he fought on behalf of all its people.”
&pizza said it is reaching out to community leaders to "identify how we can work together to make a positive impact.
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