A fast food restaurant in Argentina has apologized after naming a hamburger on its menu “Anne Frank” and giving french fries the name “Adolf.”
Jewish organizations in Rafaela, a city more than 300 miles north of Buenos Aires where the Honky Donky restaurant is located, condemned its menu’s nomenclature. On Tuesday, the organized Jewish community of Rafaela announced on Facebook that it would pursue legal action.
“In light of the fact that a fast-food place in our city has trivially used the names of Anne Frank and Adolf to identify their products, the Jewish Community of Rafaela expresses its repulsion and indignation,” the group said in a statement.
According to reports in Argentine media, the menu items’ names might have put the restaurant in violation of Argentina’s anti-discrimination law, which prohibits discrimination based on a range of factors, including race, religion and nationality. The law carries penalties including fines and possible prison time.
On Tuesday, following the backlash and legal threats, Honky Donky removed its cheddar, bacon and green onion “Adolf” fries from the menu, and also renamed the “Anne Frank” burger — which featured tomato, pickles, lettuce and mayo on a beef patty. That item is now called the “Anne Boleyn” burger, after the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII who was beheaded due to allegations of treason and infidelity.
Honky Donky also issued an apology on its Instagram story, an account which the restaurant has since made private. “Irony and cynicism do not fit” in all cases, the restaurant said in the statement posted on Tuesday.
“From our gastronomic venture we apologize for the offense and the lack of sense of responsibility for the misuse of names that refer to open wounds in Humanity as a whole,” the restaurant said.
This is not the first time a restaurant has been accused of flippantly referencing the Holocaust in order to promote its fare. In November, the German division of fast food chain KFC sent out an online promotion tied to Kristallnacht, the night of Nazi-led antisemitic riots throughout Germany and Austria in 1938 that is seen as the start of the Holocaust.
Source - JTA/Twitter - Image - Shutterstock