Calgary brewery pulls 'Karen Cherry Sour' beer from shelves after backlash
On Friday, Calgary’s Common Crown Brewing Company apologized for its Karen Cherry Sour and pulled the beverage after complaints about the name.
The brewery named the beer after the Internet-coined ‘Karen,’ used to refer to a entitled white woman utilizing her privilege in public spaces.
The promotion drew swift condemnation on social media platforms as viral incidents involving ‘Karens’ are also often racist incidents. The company celebrated the beer alongside slogans like, “Can we speak to your manager?” and “Celebrate Karen with us today!”
Specifically, a Calgary-based anti-racism page called the brewery out for the name.
View this post on Instagram
You can’t be serious @commoncrownbrew Shame on you. How tone-deaf could you be? How is this okay in any way to “celebrate karen” who portrays white women who practice their privilege on a daily basis. Someone who feels entitled because of their white skin. There have been numerous videos that show “Karen” being racist, saying racist slurs, calling the police for no reason and playing victim, even pulling guns on black people doing NOTHING and so much more hateful unnecessary crimes. Not only have you failed to mention anything about Black Lives Matter, but this is what you come up with?!? We need answers immediately because this is beyond disgusting. What do y’all think?.. because we are just repulsed by @commoncrownbrew profiting off of a word that has a negative connotation based off of RACIST WOMEN. This ain’t it. Period.
A post shared by BLACK LIVES MATTER (@yyc.notforblacklives) on Jul 9, 2020 at 10:03pm PDT
The company also released the following apology:
We wish to thank those who reached out and brought to our attention the error we have made in our recent release. We realize that our intent of the Karen label is insignificant at this juncture. Unfortunately, The Karen Cherry Sour missed the mark, and we promise to do better. Being tone deaf to racial developments is not an excuse, and we will work harder to stay informed and up to date on escalating situations. Thank you to those who sought to educate and inform us, and help us to recognize our error. We read through all of your comments and messages as a team. Moving forward, we will be working to do better, educate ourselves and collaborate with communities who support inclusion and diversity.
The Karen Cherry Sour has been pulled from shelves and is no longer available for sale. While this is just a small step in understanding our wrong, we are committed to moving forward and doing better.
Thank you.
View this post on Instagram
An apology from the team at Common Crown: We wish to thank those who reached out and brought to our attention the error we have made in our recent release. We realize that our intent of the Karen label is insignificant at this juncture. Unfortunately, The Karen Cherry Sour missed the mark, and we promise to do better. Being tone deaf to racial developments is not an excuse, and we will work harder to stay informed and up to date on escalating situations. Thank you to those who sought to educate and inform us, and help us to recognize our error. We read through all of your comments and messages as a team. Moving forward, we will be working to do better, educate ourselves and collaborate with communities who support inclusion and diversity. The Karen Cherry Sour has been pulled from shelves and is no longer available for sale. While this is just a small step in understanding our wrong, we are committed to moving forward and doing better. Thank you.
A post shared by Common Crown Brewing Co. (@commoncrownbrew) on Jul 10, 2020 at 10:37am PDT
According to CTV News , a majority of the product was pre-sold and ready to be shipped on Friday, but that’s no longer happening.