Tennessee doughnut shop faces backlash after serving Election Day breakfast to Marsha Blackburn – By Katelyn Caralle (washingtonexaminer.com) / Nov 6 2018
A doughnut shop in Memphis received backlash on Tuesday for serving Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican Senate nominee, breakfast on Election Day.
Blackburn posted an image from Gibson’s Donuts in the morning, after which the owner Don DeWeese said he got negative feedback on social media and in person. Four news stations also showed up at the shop to get his perspective.
“So far, we’ve received over 1,200 negative emails through Facebook,” DeWeese told Commercial Appeal.
“If we had told her [Blackburn] no, we probably would have gotten hit with a lot of negative social media. It was a no-win situation for us,” DeWeese said. “Her team called us the day before and asked if they could come in, they said it would be 12 to 20 of them.”
DeWeese said he was fine with them coming in but they would have to wait in line like everyone else.
The doughnut shop, however, put out a statement on its Facebook page Tuesday saying it regretted welcoming Blackburn when she asked to visit.
“Yesterday a candidate called, asked if she could stop by and buy donuts. In an attempt to avoid controversy caused by declining anyone, we said yes. WOW! Now we know that we should’ve said – no, we are a family institution not a political one,” Gibson’s Donuts said in a statement.
“Please forgive us. It was NOT meant as an endorsement. Gibson’s Donuts does not have a political viewpoint.”
https://www.facebook.com/gibsonsdonuts/posts/10156865365669675
DeWeese said that the shop has served politicians in the past.
Former Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton, a Democrat, regularly came in for doughnuts, and in 2010, the newly elected Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, went to Gibson’s Donuts, DeWeese noted.
“We did not have one negative response back then. Not one,” DeWeese said.
