An Arby's restaurant in Minneapolis has apologized for a sign that was rearranged to make a racist message.
The sign, which was located in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, was discovered by the Brooklyn Center police department on Saturday at 7 a.m., the Star Tribune reported. The sign was rearranged to read "NOW HIRING [racial slurs and offensive sexist terms]," according to a tweet obtained by the Star Tribune. Authorities removed the words from the Arby's sign and are investigating the incident, according to the publication.
A spokesperson from the Brooklyn Center restaurant told KSTP that the letters on the sign were rearranged to create a racial slur and an offensive word for prostitutes. In a statement to KSTP, the restaurant said it apologizes "to everyone exposed to that message."
"Overnight, our reader board was compromised & someone put up a message that was extremely offensive. The message has since been taken down. We're cooperating with local law enforcement officials & will take appropriate action against those involved," Arby's Guest support tweeted Saturday.
Overnight, our reader board was compromised & someone put up a message that was extremely offensive. The message has since been taken down. We’re cooperating with local law enforcement officials & will take appropriate action against those involved.
— Arby's Guest Support (@ArbysCares) September 2, 2018
Newsweek reached out to the Brooklyn Center Police department for comment on its involvement in investigating the incident but did not hear back in time for publication.
This is not the first time a racial incident has occurred in a restaurant in the U.S. this year. A black woman accused the owner of a pizza shop in Dallas of racism after she called her aunt "darkies." Tamika Sanders told Newsweek that her aunt, Shiri Gupton, was able to record the owner of Carmine's Pizzeria in North Dallas, Texas, yelling and cursing at them to leave the restaurant.
"He was angry and hateful and this place is not safe for us," Sanders previously told Newsweek. "We need to speak out so no one will spend their money there every again."
In February, a Taco Bell in Philadelphia fired an employee after they wrote the word "Chink" on a customer's receipt. Young Lee, a University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. student took to Facebook to tell his story about his interaction with the cashier, which garnered more than 1,000 reactions and 214 shares on the social media website.
"We do not tolerate this behavior. This employee no longer works for the brand, and the franchisee is retraining its staff to ensure this incident will not happen again. Management has reached out to and apologized directly to the customer," wrote representatives from Taco Bell in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
