After facing backlash from a pro-Trump social media post, Fuzzies Burgers says its founder’s views don’t reflect the business.
Baltimore’s Peabody Heights Brewery announced Tuesday it was ending its partnership with the smashburger business, whose concession truck had been operating at its address.
The news came in response to customers’ complaints after Fuzzies founder Josh Vecchiolla shared an image of former and future president Donald Trump on his personal Instagram page. The photo featured a bloodied Trump raising his fist after an assassination attempt with a caption encouraging Vecchiolla’s followers to take the results of the recent presidential election “on the chin.” Though Vecchiolla deleted the post soon after, customers shared screenshots of it on Reddit and complained to the brewery.
But a statement sent by Vecchiolla late Tuesday said his personal views had been “mistakenly interpreted as a political endorsement by Fuzzies Burgers.”
Fuzzies “has multiple owners with very diverse lives, with differences in political viewpoints, sexual orientations, and more,” the statement said. It did not name additional owners, though online state records list Bradley Vecchiolla as a director of the business.
The statement continued that the “misrepresentation of our business has prompted an early exit from our one-year agreement with Peabody that was due to expire next month. We will miss our friends at Peabody and the vibrant community they created, but we look forward to finding a space where everyone is welcome.”
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The concession truck had previously operated at Mobtown Brewing. Fuzzies also has a stand at Oriole Park at Camden Yards during baseball season.
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