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Kroger responds to backlash over ‘lazy’ Juneteenth cakes: ‘The products have been…’
Kroger said the products have been removed, and they have addressed this directly with the store teams.
A woman in Atlanta, Georgia, posted a video on TikTok this week from inside her local Kroger. She showed cakes from the bakery section that were meant to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday marking the end of slavery in the US.
“This is some bulls***,” she said in the video. “Who the hell made this ugly a** s***. I wish there was a manager around here because y’all decorate everything else around here cute.”
She pointed out cookie cakes with messy icing and odd messages like “Free @ Last” and “June 19 Free.” One cake just had plain white frosting on the edges and said only: “Free.”
“For Juneteenth you want to just throw something on a freaking cookie cake and expect someone to buy it?” she added. “That’s bulls***.”
She also said she planned to come back to the store the next day to speak to an employee about the cakes.
“Kroger, count your days. Why even bother if you’re going to lack creativity,” she wrote in the video’s caption. “This is a mockery!”
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Kroger apologizes for ‘lazy’ Juneteenth cakes
Kroger responded to the video in a statement saying: “The cakes and cookies that were featured in the video were inconsistent with our provided guidance and not of the quality we would expect to see from our stores. The products have been removed, and we’ve addressed this directly with the store teams and the customer who took the initial video,” as reported by the Independent report.
Netizens slam Kroger for sloppy cakes
The TikTok video, posted by @blaq.monalisa, has over 10.4 million views, and the comments are filled with people criticizing Kroger.
“‘Free @ last’ is diabolical,” one person wrote. Another said, “They were better off just not acknowledging Juneteenth.”
“This is funny but NOT funny,” someone else said. “I’m highly disappointed in Kroger.”
Another comment read: “If you didn’t bring up Juneteenth, I would’ve thought it was a welcome home from jail cake.”
A lot of people also compared it to Walmart’s Juneteenth ice cream from 2022. That product was taken off the shelves after people said it was trying to profit off a Black holiday without real support for Black communities or workers.
Kroger said, "Juneteenth holiday marks a commemoration and celebration of freedom and independence. However, we received feedback that a few items caused concern for some of our customers, and we sincerely apologize. We are reviewing our assortment and will remove items as appropriate.”
(By Varnika Srivastava)
