A U.S. restaurant chain has apologized after using a photo of at least one black man being hanged as table decor.
Tyrone Williams was dining with a friend at the Joe’s Crab Shack in Roseville, MN when he noticed the offending photo which is entitled ‘Hanging at Groesbeck Texas on April 12, 1895.’
The photo appears to show a crowd of white people watching one or two black men being hanged with a caption with a cartoon bubble which says, “All I said was ‘I didn’t like the gumbo.'”
Williams posted the photo onto his Facebook page saying, “we just wanted some all you can eat Crab legs smh and now we got to go.”
He told KARE-TV that he spoke to the manager of the restaurant immediately after discovering the image.
“Although the manager was apologetic about the lynching depiction, that does not change the fact that this sickening image of black men being lynched was intentionally embedded inside of a table,” he said.
There are 135 Joe’s Crab Shack locations across 35 American states.
Ignite Restaurant Group, Joe’s Crab Shack’s parent company, has apologized for the incident.
“We take this matter very seriously, and the photo in question was immediately removed,” Ignite Chief Operating Officer David Catalano said in a statement, KARE reported. “We sincerely apologize to our guests who were disturbed by the image, and we look forward to continuing to serve the Roseville community.”