Bakery Is Very Sorry for Oscar Pistorius Meme Cookies

Last February, Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius was charged with murder in the killing of his girlfriend. He claims the shooting was an accident; the trial is set to start soon. And apparently, a South African bakery thought it would be smart to mark the occasion with a series of “Oscar Meme” cookies.

According to South Africa’s The Citizen (via the AP), the would-be wits at Charlie’s Bakery tweeted a photo of several cookies, covered in memes related to the case. For instance: “One of the cookies says ‘and the Oscar goes to… Jail, another says like a bullet through a bathroom with a picture of Oscar jumping away at the starting line of a race.”

Obviously, this was in poor taste, and the chastened bakery quickly apologized online:

The real mystery is: Why in the hell would a bakery think it was a good idea to weigh in on a murder trial? Apparently Charly’s is known for taking on current events: “We are active on social media and have a history of using memes on our counter to highlight issues that we care about” and in support of charities, a rep told the Citizen, adding that they really wanted to express frustration with how easy Pistorius has had it thus far:

“We have received a lot of negative tweets regarding the photo of the meme cookies. People assumed that our intention was to “make money off Reeva’s murder” but in reality, our intention was to highlight the issue of violence against women,” said Biess.

Even if that’s true, there are probably better ways to express that sentiment than quippy baked goods.

Also, if I ever walk into a bakery and see ANY memes on cookies, I’m calling the health department. Fuck THAT.