BOISE, ID (WCMH) — People are calling an Idaho pizza shop owner’s shark costume racist after he painted his face black to imitate the shark’s mouth.
Pizzalchik’s owner Brad Breakell is known for being a bit off the wall, especially with his Facebook posts promoting his restaurant’s weekly specials.
But it was his most recent video post, featuring Jacoline Jaws that had a lot of people talking.
In the video, Breakell is seen with a shark mask over his head, and his face painted black in the area of the shark’s mouth. He intended it to look like a talking shark, but people commented on the post accusing him of wearing blackface.
“There was no intent of being blackface. People said do you know what blackface is? Of course I know what blackface is. But because I’m so not that way, it didn’t even cross my mind.” Breakell told KBOI.
Soon negative reviews were rolling into his restaurant, especially after his post was shared to the Social Justice Warriors Facebook page.
“My children have taken harassing phonecalls. People have been phoning and ordering hundreds and hundreds of dollars’ worth of pizza with no intent to coming down to pick any of this stuff up,” said Breakell.
Later, Breakell posted another video apologize for the character, and he told KBOI he’ll think a little harder in the future about his characters and videos.