Beauty Bar apologizes after sign with domestic violence joke causes outrage
Beauty Bar on Fremont East has apologized after a photo of the bar’s sign outside showing a joke about domestic violence went viral overnight.
“Beauty Bar would like to issue a formal statement of apology for the actions of one employee who has been suspended pending further investigation,” Beauty Bar posted on Facebook Friday morning. “Ownership and management did not approve of the highly inappropriate message she chose to display on the local bars’ chalkboard sign and removed it once they were made aware a few hours later. Beauty Bar has been a longtime supporter of local and national anti-domestic violence charities and in no way supported this message.”
The Review-Journal reached out to Beauty Bar to request the details of that support, but calls to the bar on Friday afternoon were not answered.
A photo of the sign, which read “I like my beer like I like my violence: domestic” and was removed Thursday night, was posted on Facebook by Derek Noel on Thursday afternoon. It has since been shared nearly 500 times and reposted by many others on both Facebook and Twitter.
“I think it’s too bad they think domestic violence is a source of levity that should be used to sell beer,” Noel wrote in a comment.
The photo caught the attention of many others, some of whom made posts to the bar’s own Facebook page. Many linked to websites and graphics featuring domestic violence statistics.
Domestic violence is a serious problem in Nevada. A report released earlier this week by Everytown for Gun Safety and the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence found that women in Nevada are 65 percent more likely to be fatally shot by an intimate partner than women in other states.
For the number of women killed by partners, the state ranked fifth in the nation. There were 6.6 domestic violence gun homicides for every million Nevada women, compared with 4 nationally.
Monera Mason commented that she reached out to Dos Equis, another beer featured on the sign, and posted the response:
”We were recently made aware of this sign and are currently working to contact the bar regarding this matter. However, we want to assure you that we absolutely, unequivocally do not support messaging of this nature. Violence of any sort is never funny, and making light of it certainly is not something Dos Equis condones or stands behind.”
Many others updated reviews to one star, complaining about the signage. The bar’s five-star rating was reduced to 3.7 at the time of this writing.
The downtown Las Vegas community reacted quickly. Dance bar Oddfellows, on Ogden Avenue, posted a photo of money and wrote, “Thank you for coming in tonight and tipping the bartender. He raised $226 to be donated to Shade Tree. Domestic Violence isn’t a joke. Thank you.”
The Shade Tree is a Las Vegas-based shelter for women, children and pets who are victims of domestic violence.
Beauty Bar is no stranger to controversy, having been criticized in the past after promoting “Welfare Wednesdays” with a racial stereotype-filled Instagram post.
Contact Kristen DeSilva at kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Follow @kristendesilva on Twitter.
