Two Melville business owners recently experienced the dangers and backlash of appropriating cultures.
Ryan Vermaak and Fabio Di Cosmo, the two owners of the soon-to-open Asian fusion restaurant MiSoHawni were outed as racist, ignorant and sexist for inappropriately naming the restaurant. Needless to say, the Twitterverse has erupted.
Our awesome sign is up! Wesohawni! #Misohawni pic.twitter.com/Fe5mlVQIwh
— misohawni (@misohawni) November 14, 2017
Ryan Vermaak and Fabio Di Cosmo, the two owners of the soon-to-open Asian fusion food restaurant MiSoHawni were outed as racist, ignorant and sexist for inappropriately naming the restaurant.
A new 'Asian' restaurant opening in Joburg, owned by non Asians. It covers 3 different cultures: 1.ramen (Japanese), 2.poke (Hawaiian) & 3.Korean BBQ. As an Asian woman, I really hate the name. It might seem funny but when men say it while they sexually harass you it's not. pic.twitter.com/gAVDiSKFah
— Like ‘chow’ 林明巧 (@mingcheau) November 14, 2017
In addition to the restaurant’s name’s sexual innuendo, their Twitter page description has yet another sexual innuendo as they describe the restaurant as ‘cumming’ soon.
The Twitter account was opened in November and on the 14th, they posted, ‘Don’t you just love the name!’ which led to, at the time of print, 105 Twitter users commenting on the post, most of whom were disturbed by the name.
According to some of the tweets, they had posted, ‘Don’t you just love the name!’ after social media users had already complained about it.
Twitter reacted:
https://twitter.com/oldurtube/status/930750948842115073
https://twitter.com/bokchoifresh/status/930645240892948480
https://twitter.com/MichelleKang/status/930557003549888512
No and listing "cumming soon" in your bio shows this is on purpose. pic.twitter.com/P5jbPG25jY
— Dion G. (@McDionalds) November 15, 2017
— ????????️????Juanita van Zyl????????️???? (@JuavanZyl) November 15, 2017
The pair has since released a statement on their Facebook page explaining that it was never their intention to hurt anyone and they are sorry for any hurt caused by the name.
They go on to explain that they opened the restaurant to celebrate Asian culture and not mock it.
“[W]e fully admit that we showed serious lack of expertise and understanding when it came to the name and fell back on an ingrained stereotype that we clearly did not understand – and we are sorry,” Vermaak said.
The two have since decided to rebrand and rename the restaurant.
“We are happy to engage with the community and anyone who we have impacted with the intention of opening dialogue with them,” he explained.
The two have opened up a channel of communication and have urged members of the public to contact them for further queries on info@tonedef.co.za
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