New Washington DC bar Diet Starts Monday may have been too witty for its own good when it decided to serve a designer cocktail garnished with empty pill capsules called the “Pill Cosby.”
The tequilla drink, named after comedy legend Bill Cosby and his alleged drugging and raping of up to 60 women, drew immediate outrage from quite a few Twitter users, who saw it as a crass attempt at humor.
Yelp critiques of the fledgling establishment were even more scathing, with the drink leading to a number of one star reviews.
Diet Starts Monday co-founder Davin Gentry initially defended the “Pill Cosby,” saying it was just seen as a funny name. But after the backlash, it wasn’t long before the comical play on words cocktail was eighty-sixed from the menu and Gentry offered up an apology on Twitter.
“The drink has since been removed from the menu and we apologize to anyone who felt offended by this,” he wrote. “This drink was not made with any intent to offend anyone, especially not victims of rape. We take full responsibility.”
As far as tasteless jokes go, that one’s right up there.