Costco removes Palmetto Cheese from stores after founder called BLM ‘terrorist organisation'
Product will reportedly no longer be carried at120 stores
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Your support makes all the difference.Costco has removed popular pimento cheese brand, Palmetto Cheese from its shelves following continued calls for its boycott after the brand's owner likened Black Lives Matter (BLM) to a “terror organization,” according to a report.
According to The Post and Courier, the cheese brand will no longer be carried at 120 Costco Wholesale locations nationwide. The outlet published a photo of a sign in the Myrtle Beach Costco store stating that the products were “discontinued and will not be re-ordered."
Brian Henry, the mayor of Pawleys Island and owner of Palmetto Cheese, confirmed to the newspaper that his product had been removed but insisted it was because of seasonal product changes.
The removal comes after Mr Henry recently faced backlash for reportedly making controversial comments on his personal Facebook last month regarding reports that a black man has been accused of killing two white people.
According to USA Today, screenshots of the now-deleted post showed that Mr Henry said he was outraged that “two white people" were "defenselessly gunned down by a black man”.
He then asked: “why do we stand by and allow BLM to lawlessly destroy great American cities and threaten their citizens on a daily basis” before likening BLM and Antifa to terrorist organisations.
Many condemned the comments as racist and Mr Henry faced calls for a boycott of Palmetto Cheese from consumers and also pressure to resign from his elected position as mayor from the Georgetown chapter of the NAACP.
Mr Henry later apologised for the social media comments and announced a rebranding of Palmetto Cheese, which features the image of a black woman, Vertrella Brown, who helped popularise the product.
“I start out by saying I am profoundly sorry to those I offended with my post last week. My comments were hurtful and insensitive,” Mr Henry said during a press conference, Myrtle Beach Online reported.
However, he insisted that the removal of the cheese brand from Costco's shelves was part of an annual turnover of products and may only be temporary.
“Costco rotates items in and out during the course of the year. They will occasionally add and drop products as a matter of normal business,” Mr Henry told The Post and Courier.
“We remain optimistic that Palmetto Cheese will be back on the shelves in the not too distant future.”
Costco’s corporate headquarters declined to confirm whether the removal was temporary or permanent when contacted byThe Post and Courier.
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