NYC pizzeria owners step down after racially offensive comments resurface online

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The owners of a New York City pizza institution have stepped down after racially offensive comments resurfaced online.

Prince Street Pizza, a slice shop in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, is under fire after offensive comments made by its owners resurfaced online, following an investigation into the slice shop from food blogger Joe Rosenthal. 

A New York City pizzeria is under fire for its owner’s racist remarks on the restaurant review website Yelp. (iStock). 

“I found multiple Yelpers claiming that they were treated poorly at PSP due to their race. A Black woman who claimed she experienced racist treatment at Prince Street Pizza was called a ‘piece of s—‘ in response and told to “go f—- you’re self [sic] you disgusting race card-playing [gendered slur],” Rosenthal wrote on Instagram of the alleged comments made by Prince Street Pizza shop owner Frank Morano on Yelp in recent years. 

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Rosenthal also claimed he found a 2016 video clip reshared by Morano’s son, Dominic Morano, on a now-deleted Facebook account, which showed images of Black Lives Matter activists getting hit by cars during protests. “Why do BLM and other protestors cross the road? To get run over the angry drivers,” the video was titled.

A slew of restaurant reviews posted on Yelp have also accused the slice shop of making racially inappropriate remarks to customers, with staffers allegedly exhibiting rude behavior dating back to before the coronavirus pandemic.

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“I had barely taken two bites out of my pizza before one of their staff started harassing me and trying to get me to leave — despite several other customers having been standing around eating for longer than I had. Now I get why literally no Black people go here,” one user named Melissa L. wrote on Yelp in December 2019, as reported by Eater.

Frank Morano reportedly responded to that comment by saying: “I got all types of race religion and sexual orientation that comes in my store. Now go s—t in a hat you racist clown.” 

The owners of the pizzeria apologized and stepped down. (Google)

Prince Street Pizza owners did not immediately return a Fox News request for comment. The owners on Friday issued an apology on Instagram announcing both would step down.

“Prince Street Pizza unequivocally denounces all forms of racism, injustice, inequality, and bigotry,” reads a statement posted to the shop’s website.

“There is nothing okay about the comments I made on Yelp,” Frank Morano said in the statement. “I take full responsibility and wholeheartedly apologize to our customers, especially our Asian community. All of our customers are family to us, and you deserve so much better. I am stepping down because it’s the right thing to do.”

The statement also claimed that the pizzeria’s current manager would assume “full operational responsibility.”

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Critics, however, were quick to slam the pie shop’s apology as half-baked. 

“Don’t think that just because you employ people of all races, it automatically excuses the words you’ve said in the past and that it gives you a free pass to say whatever you want,” one user commented on Instagram. 

“You are not regretful because the owners are not speaking here, some paid lackey is,” another user alleged.

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Yelp is currently monitoring Prince Street Pizza’s Yelp page following media reports, per a message posted to its review page on Monday.