Charles Manson was not a great guy.
Perhaps it seems a bit strange that needs to be said but the aura and legends surrounding one of America’s most notorious cult leaders and murderers can often turn him into something of a mythical figure who receives a status he is wholly undeserving of. At the time of his death earlier this week, a podcast about Manson’s childhood was ranked among the most popular in the U.S. and news had just broken about Quentin Tarantino’s plans to make a movie about the murders that put him in prison for life. His influence on American pop culture can be found in music, TV, movies, books, and just about everywhere else.
But, again, he was a pretty terrible human being. Just making it clear once more.
Not helping matters on that front was Voodoo Doughnut, the popular Portland doughnut shop known to honor pop culture icons upon their death in pastry form. Most recently, they created tasteful and tasty tributes to Tom Petty and Prince. However, things took a turn towards being distasteful on Monday when the doughnut chain whipped up a tribute to Manson to add to their collection.
— Thicc-Fil-A, a Habitual Pot Stirrer (@SwooshMcDuck) November 20, 2017
The negative reaction was fairly immediate and Voodoo attempted to quell the pushback by deleting the original tweet and retweeting with an added note that read “Not celebrating. Villains die too.” As you can imagine, given the fact that Manson is responsible for the deaths of multiple innocent people, that caveat didn’t quite do the job they’d hoped.
Good thing screenshots are forever pic.twitter.com/8DedmvcvzE
— Thicc-Fil-A, a Habitual Pot Stirrer (@SwooshMcDuck) November 20, 2017
Not to mention, Voodoo certainly understood they were doing a dumb thing here when they had the wherewithal to replace the swastika carved into Manson’s forehead with a generic X. Nevertheless, they persisted.
Since this apparently what we are doing, can we get a 8 1/2 month pregnant Sharon Tate stabbed 16 times tribute cake? Have we celebrated Hitler’s birthday yet? Stalin was a nice guy too while we’re at it. https://t.co/fokdx8qy42
— Thicc-Fil-A, a Habitual Pot Stirrer (@SwooshMcDuck) November 20, 2017
Pro-tip: If you're making a doughnut of someone and have to decide whether or not to include their swastika face tattoo, it's probably best to just scrap the project entirely.
— Matthew Singer (@mpsinger) November 20, 2017
A Mugabe donut would be timely, don't you think? Heck, they could do a whole month's series on Africa alone.
— Uncle Fuzzzy (@unclefuzzzy) November 20, 2017
The troubling part in all of this is that you just know there were more than a few people out there who actually wish they could get their hands on that cake.
