Dunkin’ Donuts apologizes for offensive soccer tweet
Dunkin’ Donuts apologized Wednesday night for a tweet sent out earlier in the day that upset many fans of the Liverpool Soccer Club.
Earlier in the day, the Dunkin’ Donuts Twitter account tweeted a picture of the Liverpool Football Club crest alongside a revamped version of the crest that heavily featured doughnuts and cups of coffee.
The problem is that Liverpool fans hold the crest dear, especially the symbolic flames, which represent the memory of the 96 fans killed in a 1989 disaster. The fans were crushed to death at the overcrowded Hillsborough Stadium during a Football Assn. Challenge Cup game.
The feedback was swift and strong.
Dunkin’ Donuts erased the tweet and later issued an apology.
"We apologize for any insensitivity regarding our tweet supporting an LFC-themed promotion featuring the LFC Crest," according to a statement sent to the Los Angeles Times. "As a proud partner of LFC, we did not intend any offense, particularly to the Club’s supporters. We have removed the tweet and halted the campaign immediately."
The Canton, Mass., company launched in 1950 and has since expanded across the world.
It had about a dozen shops in California before withdrawing in the late 1990s. It returned to Southern California last year, opening a shop in Santa Monica last September. (A "nontraditional" Dunkin' shop opened on the Camp Pendleton military base in 2012, but civilians had very limited access there.)
The company signed agreements in 2014 to develop more than 150 new locations all over California.
UPDATES
9:34 p.m.This story has been updated with a statement from Dunkin' Donuts.
This story was originally published at 7:11 p.m.
