Birmingham Business Owner Responds to Criticism Over Tweets Deemed Offensive After Charlottesville Tragedy

BIRMINGHAM, AL - A local business received a bevy of criticism over a series of tweets the business owner posted on his Twitter feed over the weekend regarding the tragic events that occurred in Charlottesville, Va. Wicked Haute Dogs, a food truck in Birmingham managed by David McLaurin, retweeted comments from an account appearing to belong to a user sympathizing with racist views, and received a storm of backlash and boycott threats via social media Monday morning:

The company removed the tweets, but not before attempting to defend the tweets, first responding to one critic by saying, "You don't know me or my political beliefs." And then posting this tweet that has since been removed:

Several Birmingham residents and business owners responded to the tweets on social media by stating they would not do business with Wicked Haute Dogs, and encouraged markets and other organizations not to use the food truck.

The business posted an apology Monday afternoon on its Facebook page:

"There has been a lot of well deserved anger towards me and my business in regards to a retweet of a tweet by Angelo John Gage. I apologize to anyone and everyone my retweet offended or angered. Anyone who knows me knows that I AM NOT a white supremacist, I do not believe in or espouse Nazi beliefs nor am I racist in any way. I am, in fact, a member of a family that is multi-cultural and I love them all very much. I believe that violence or hate in any fashion is terrible and not the solution for the problems facing this nation.

"In retrospect, I understand that, while my intention was to point out that no one, regardless of their race should be painted with the broad brush of racism, I retweeted a message from an individual who is himself a racist. I did not understand the sub-text of his original tweet and retweeted it without fully thinking of the meaning behind it and how it might make others feel. Again, for that I am sorry.
The offending retweets have been deleted and I will make this statement to anyone who has written to me over the past day."

Wicked Haute Dogs has since deleted its Twitter page.

(Photo by Chet Strange/Getty Images)