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Food

Sheffield Restaurant Sparks Outrage for Naming Burger After Harvey Weinstein

Randy’s Hardcore Hamburgers has since issued an apology, claiming that it is “guilty of nothing more than poor taste.”
Sheffield Restaurant Sparks Outrage for Naming Burger After Harvey Weinstein
Photo via Wikimedia Commons / Adobe Stock.

There's nothing like sitting down to a good meal and being made aware of the monstrous nature of men. If you happened to forget, for a moment, about the vast number of crimes committed against women, what could be more delightful than a cheeky reminder as you bite into your double cheeseburger with coleslaw? Or a chicken burger and fries? Yum yum yum. Violent sexual crimes.

Indeed, Randy’s Hardcore Hamburgers (*extremely long, audible sigh*), a restaurant in Sheffield, has been widely criticised for naming one of its burgers after disgraced Hollywood producer and accused rapist Harvey Weinstein. According to i News, the restaurant was called out yesterday for its controversial burger names, which include not only the one named after a man accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old, but another called “Fake Taxi” (in reference to the porn website) and “Classic Hardcore.” Of course, a porn-referencing burger isn’t in the same category as “accused sexual assaulter” but it’s hardly an alluring thought when you’re trying to have lunch (or idk, maybe it is, whatever floats your boat).

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Randy’s, which opened this week, describes itself on Twitter as an “X-Rated” burger joint, with “cheeky cocktails, exciting bar games, and behaviour that would disappoint your mother.”

Many have pointed out that naming menu items after accused sexual predators makes light of sexual violence against women. One Twitter user commented, “Hi there, I don't know if you realised but you seem to be trivialising sexual assault and glorifying abusive behaviour in your menu. Maybe have a little rethink and consider why that might be a bad thing to do,” while another simply wrote: “Sexual assault isn’t funny.”

The owner of Randy’s Hardcore Hamburgers, Charlie Hewitt, told i News his intention wasn’t to “offend anybody.”

“You do have to question what has happened to people’s humour? There is a mob mentality at the moment,” he continued. “I fully appreciate it has got some people’s backs up. We are not glorifying sexual predators, it’s a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour.”

However, last night on its official Twitter account, Randy’s seemed to have changed its tune, tweeting that it “would like to genuinely apologise for any offence it has caused for its insensitive naming of the Weinstein burger.”

“At no point does Randy’s look to glamourise or promote sexual assault towards any member of the community. We realise our mistake and trust that the people of Sheffield accept our apologies and understand that we are guilty of nothing more than poor taste.”

Sounds like someone needs an Actual Apology burger with a side of Total Rebranding.