An Italian restaurant has come under fire after attempting to take a light-hearted stance on the Black Lives Matter protest movement for an advertisment.
The restaurant in New Mexico posted a billboard sporting the line: “Black Olives Matter, Try Our Tapenade.”
Paisano's Italian restaurant has since been criticised for having “poor taste” and been accused of hijacking social movements to increase profits.
The joke has been described as "insensitive" following nationwide outcry over recent fatal shootings of black men by police officers.
One woman wrote: “As a woman of colour I find your post offensive and in very bad taste.
“The civilized world no longer has any tolerance for your hateful public display of what passes to you as humour.
“Young men and women are dying - have a shred of humanity.”
The sign was taken down by the restaurant and photos were removed from social media following the backlash.
But many have expressed support for the pun and accused critics of being “over sensitive” and stemming freedom of speech.
One added: “I am so sick of people getting offended over every little thing. All lives matter should be the slogan, and for an Italian restaurant black olives matter too!”
The restaurant posted on their social media page thanking people for support and saying that business had increased since the controversy.
The statement said: "We have been inundated with positive, supportive phone calls from the community as well as overwhelmed with business.
"Many nowadays would contend that society has changed for the worse, but our experience this week has proven the opposite. We have encountered so many quality people of character; salt of the earth and the bedrock of America.
"Many have shown a unique way to show solidarity."
One user commented on the statement accusing the company of deleting negative comments from the page and added: "I really think that an apology on this page, pinned, would go a long way.
"This post is pretty shameful."
