Chef Defends, Comic Ridicules NBC’s Soul Food Menu
"It may have seemed like an innocent tweet. But when you have more
than a million followers, it’s never that simple," Maria Schiavocampo
wrote on theGrio.com, which is owned by NBC.
"Questlove, the drummer for the Roots – now the house band for
‘The Jimmy Fallon Show’ – was grabbing a bite at the NBC
commissary Thursday, when a certain lunch special caught his eye. He
snapped a photo of the sign, and tweeted it.
"Underneath the picture he included the caption ‘Hmm HR?’ –
signaling that he may have been offended by the idea that Black
History Month should be honored with fried chicken and collard
greens. Some of his 1.3 million followers agreed, posting comments like
‘They wrong…Somebody get Al Sharpton on the phone – while
others didn’t see the big deal, writing ‘It is a representation of
Black food historically.’
"Within minutes the sign was gone from the commissary – though
the meal continued to be served – and NBC posted a tweet of
their own, saying ‘The sign in the NBCU cafeteria has been removed. We
apologize for anyone who was offended by it.’
"One person who doesn’t understand how offense could be taken: Chef
Leslie Calhoun. It was her decision to select the menu items and
create the sign. TheGrio caught up with her minutes after the tweet
fiasco erupted and she seemed genuinely upset by the whole thing.
Calhoun is an African-American and employee of Flick, a catering
service that runs the NBC commissary.
"She said that for the last eight years she’s been seeking approval
from Flick management for a special Black History Month menu, and had
finally been told that every Thursday for the month of February, she
could serve whatever she chose.
"’ I don’t understand at all. It’s not trying to offend anybody and
it’s not trying to suggest that that’s all that African-Americans eat.
It’s just a good meal,’ she said, adding, ‘I thought it would go over
well.’
"As for Questlove, he’s opted to give tweeting a break. About two
hours after posting his twitpic, he typed ‘i think I need a twitter
break. i done started something. and now I must put out fire.’ Looks
like for now, he’ll go back to using his fingers for drumming."
Comedian Wanda Sykes razzed Jay Leno about the Black History Month menu on his show this week, asking whether NBC was going to add watermelon for dessert (Video.)
