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Dizzy Dean Donuts, a donut shop in Eugene, Oregon, is facing backlash and possible cancelation after the owner Dean E. Weaver was seen harassing a homeless woman who was sitting outside his store.
A recent video posted on Reddit showed Weaver walking up to the homeless woman and throwing a jug of cold water on her. Oregon is currently clocking in a 35°F to 41°F, which is a harsh condition to handle for those without shelters.
The video sparked outrage online with people leaving scathing Yelp and Google reviews about the store, which previously held a 4.5 rating. An apology was made on the store's Instagram page but that oo backfired on the donut shop, with netizens going wild over how the apology was very backhanded.
One user commented on the post saying that whoever was responsible "will never see the pearly gates," alluding to heaven.
Dizzy Dean Donut's owner faces heat for harassment and subsequent backhanded apology
After the Reddit video went viral, Dizzy Dean Donut's Instagram page issued an official apology. However, netizens were angered even further when the donut store attempted to defend its actions in the apology post by writing:
"The way we acted was inappropriate, but trespassing and loitering is also a crime!"
That apart, owner Dean E. Weaver also shared his side of the story with local news reporters. He said that he was not throwing water on the woman, but was instead putting out a fire behind her. He claimed that the woman was standing in front of the fire, which is why it was not seen in the video. He said:
"I went out to extinguish the fire, and I saw someone sitting there, and I threw the pitcher of water on the fire. The fire was behind her; the video makes it look like I threw it on her, but I didn't"
Weaver even went so far as to blame an ex-employee of Dizzy Dean for the release of the video. He said that the employee was fired for other reasons but "took the video and downloaded it so that he could post it" without context, making Weaver look bad.
None of Weaver's explanations have convinced netizens into thinking he was innocent. Many called for him to be put out of business and be booked for assault.
Besides calling out the store owner on Twitter, netizens also stormed the comments section under Dizzy Dean's latest apology post on Instagram, criticizing the business for insensitively attacking someone when they could have helped them.
The Eugene Police Department said they received a report on Saturday afternoon after the video was released online. The exact location of the event is yet to be confirmed. The victim has also not been identified as of now.
Dizzy Dean Donuts has removed its page from Google reviews and Yelp as people thronged their pages to leave bad reviews. No other comment has been made by Dean or the store.
