ABILENE, TX– Abilene’s Black community and a local restaurant are upset after a “disgusting” trivia question was used in a gift card contest.
Friday morning, Shawnte Fleming, the president of Let Us Breathe Abilene and a leader in the Black community, received pictures of a flyer that had been circulating around town, containing ads and discounts for local businesses.
One of the ‘ads’ was a trivia contest awarding a $10 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings to someone who answered this question:
“Which US Political Party is the party of slavery, The Confederacy, KKK, Jim Crowe Laws, Segregation, and passed laws to incarcerate more Americans of African descent?”
Fleming, taking a strong stance, immediately posted the flyer to social media to get feedback from her peers.
“I think it’s disgusting, and it really struck a nerve with the Black community,” Fleming explains.
Within an hour of posting, Fleming was contacted by a representative of Abilene’s Buffalo Wild Wings, who said the contest was in no way affiliated with his store or his brand.
Instead, a man who only identified himself as Shaun, independently obtained the $10 Buffalo Wild Wings gift card and made the trivia question, using Buffalo Wild Wings logos on the ad as well.
“We’re disgusted and we definitely condemn it 100%,” Trista Vincent, Restaurant Support Director for the Abilene Buffalo Wild Wings, says.
They are now considering taking legal action against Shaun, who used their logo in this context without permission.
During a phone call with KTAB and KRBC, Shaun admitted Buffalo Wild Wings had no idea their logo was being circulated with the controversial trivia question.
When asked why he decided to use that particular question, Shaun said that, “it was all the heat of the political atmosphere we’ve been having and everyone getting labeled as a racist.”
Shaun abruptly ended the phone call after refusing to do an on-camera interview, saying the trivia question was based on a true fact and he didn’t see why it was offensive.
Fleming gives insight into that offense, saying “just because we have freedom of speech. . . doesn’t really give you a right to say some of the things you’re going to say.”
The corporate office for Buffalo Wild Wings is also now aware of the ad and said, “A local man posted this advertisement, and it has no affiliation with Buffalo Wild Wings. We did not permit him to use our brand in his personal ad and have reported this to the creator of the pamphlet.”
Buffalo Wild Wings also reiterated that what Shaun did was illegal.
