A Rhode Island restaurant is facing some serious backlash after posting an anti-Semitic meme to its Facebook page on Friday.
The meme, posted to Atlantic Sports Bar and Restaurant's Facebook page, included an image of Anne Frank and a reference to Friday's hot weather, comparing it to the infamous cremation ovens in German concentration camps.
The meme was removed a short time later, but not before many people saw it.
"I thought for a second that it could've been a hack, like it was a mistake. It was so incredulous to me that it didn't seem like it could be a deliberate post," Jessica Machado, a customer of the Tiverton restaurant, told NBC affiliate WJAR-TV.
She said she called the restaurant after seeing the meme and spoke to an employee, who said they had googled memes about the heat, found one they thought was funny and posted it.
The restaurant later issued an apology on its Facebook page.
"The team here at The Atlantic wants to issue it's sincerest apologies for a deeply insensitive post shared by our account on 7/22," restaurant management said in its statement. "The post was poorly thought out, and we realize that it was incredibly inappropriate and does not reflect our values as members of our community. There is no excuse for the sharing of this post, and there is nothing we can do to rectify it, all we can do now is offer our deepest apology to those who were rightfully hurt by our actions."
As of Tuesday morning, the restaurant's Facebook page appeared to have been deleted.
