Walmart is under fire after cake decorators at their McDonough, Ga., location refused to decorate a cake with the words “Blue Lives Matter.”
Jordan Harkin, 21, told NBC that she wanted to order a cake with the words and a blue line frosted across a chocolate cake to celebrate her father’s retirement after 25 years serving as a police officer.
Harkins claims the first employee she spoke to told her that “the design could be perceived as racist” and that no one felt comfortable filling her order.
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In an interview with conservative columnist Todd Starnes, Harkins said she asked two more times before deciding to take her business elsewhere.
When family friend Taylor Wilkes heard about this, she was outraged.
Wilkes, who is a police officer, turned to social media to encourage her friends to boycott the big box store.
“I don’t see how a thin blue line on a cake can be perceived as racist,” she said.
A Walmart manager reached out to her and apologized, but Harkins ended up ordering a cake from a different bakery.
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According to Harkins, the Walmart manager offered her a gift card and the cake, free of charge. But she claims the manager couldn’t find a cake decorator willing to do the job, so the manager had to make it himself.
“It looked terrible,” she said. “It doesn’t look professional.”
Walmart said in a statement:
“Our goal is to always take care of customers. But, sometimes we misstep. We have addressed this issue with everyone involved and are taking steps to make sure no other customers have this kind of experience in our stores.”
Harkins was left feeling unsatisfied with Walmart’s solution.
“It doesn’t make up for the fact that it should have never happened in the first place.”
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