‘Hella offensive’ NMB restaurant sign stirs up controversy on Twitter

A restaurant in North Myrtle Beach called Tar Baby’s is causing a stir on Twitter after someone called it a “racist establishment.”

On Nov. 10, Damien Perkins tweeted “Please RT this racist establishment til they change their name or close down!!! No way this should still be around in 2017.”

The restaurant’s sign has what appears to be a black-colored character wearing a hat sitting next to a stack of pancakes.

What’s depicted on the sign resembles a character in the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, in which one of the characters Br’er Fox made a doll made of tar and turpentine.

The Oxford American Dictionary defines tar baby “a difficult problem that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it.” But there is also a second definition listed, which says it is a “contemptuous term for a black person.”

“The use as a racial slur arose by the 1940s, and because of its highly offensive nature, the original meaning is now often regarded as offensive by association,” the dictionary states.

Perkins, who resides in California, was visiting Myrtle Beach this past weekend and said he was “shocked and amazed” to see that term on a restaurant.

“To me, that term and picture is hella offensive and I bet more people know ‘Tar Baby’ as a derogatory term more than they know it from some folklore story,” he told The Sun News.

Several others replied to Perkins and disagreed with his thoughts.

Perkins’ tweet has been retweeted 264 times as of Thursday morning.

The Sun News has reached out to Tar Baby’s Pancakes for comment and will update the story when we hear back.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 11:18 AM with the headline "‘Hella offensive’ NMB restaurant sign stirs up controversy on Twitter."