Pawleys Island mayor apologizes for Facebook post, plans rebrand of Palmetto Cheese
Pawleys Island mayor Brian Henry announced Thursday a rebranding of his popular Palmetto Cheese product and apologized for making racist comments regarding Black Lives Matter on Facebook last week.
Henry faced a growing uproar and boycott of his pimento cheese brand after he referred to Black Lives Matter as a “terror organization” in a post last week. Along with apologizing and announcing a rebrand of the product, which features a Black woman on its packaging, Henry also said he would be setting up a foundation to sponsor events in the local community and provide scholarships, possibly in the field of culinary arts.
“I start out by saying I am profoundly sorry to those I offended with my post last week. My comments were hurtful and insensitive,” Henry said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. “I spent the past 10 days listening and learning. The conversations I’ve had with friends, our staff, the community and faith-based leaders provided me with a deeper understanding of racial inequality and the importance of diversity sensitivity, which is very much needed to heal Pawleys Island, Georgetown and our country.”
In an interview Wednesday, Henry said he does “believe Black lives matter” but that his controversial Facebook post came out of frustration over the deaths of a white man and woman in Georgetown last week. A Black man has been accused of killing them.
“2 innocent people murdered,” Henry wrote, according to screenshots shared on social media. “Not 2 thugs or people wanted on multiple warrants. 2 white people defenselessly gunned down by a black man. Tell me, where is the outrage?”
Henry said he “wasn’t really trying to accomplish anything” with the post and now regrets how divisive it turned out to be.
People in Pawleys Island, the surrounding community and across the eastern U.S. were quick to denounce Henry.
“What he said really is his heart,” Georgetown NAACP president Marvin Neal said in a video posted to Facebook last week. “People like that shouldn’t be serving anyone.”
On Saturday, the Georgetown NAACP chapter held a news conference in which speakers expressed sorrow for the people killed in the shootings while also calling for people to condemn Henry’s comments to help bring the community together.
Many expressed anger over his use of a Black woman as the face of his Palmetto Cheese brand. In recent months, companies around the U.S. have taken steps to remove images of Black people from products accused of using racistcaricatures as a marketing tool.
As backlash grew, Henry spoke with community leaders and others to help learn from his mistakes. This included a meeting yesterday with local Black faith leaders to discuss his statements and decide how best to move forward.
One of the pastors in attendance at Thursday’s news conference, the Rev. Reddit Andrews III of the St. Mary’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, said these situations always hurt to see and hear, but the believed Henry felt real remorse and regret for his actions.
“Sometimes it takes being raked over the coals, really to see yourself,” Andrews said. “He’s been brutalized as a result of what he’s done and what he said, and rightfully so. But I don’t think the fact that pain has brought him to this position necessarily negates the fact that he’s seen what was there and regrets it.
Henry said Palmetto Cheese had already begun taking steps to rebrand the product and remove the image of Vertrella Brown, a Black cook who popularized the product in Pawleys Island, from the packaging.
“We have already initiated a product rebranding effort to be more sensitive to cultural diversity,” Henry said at the press conference.
Both on social media and in interviews, people around the country said they thought Palmetto Cheese was a Black-owned and Black-created brand thanks to Brown’s image on its packaging. This quickly lead to rumors that Brown was the true creator of the recipe.
Henry pushed back against those rumors and reiterated a statement on the company’s website: His wife, Sassy Henry, a chef, was the original creator of the Palmetto Cheese recipe found in stores today. Brown, a longtime friend of the family, simply embodied “Lowcountry cuisine,” and when the product grew bigger and bigger in the latter half of the 2000s, the Henrys asked if she would be the face of the product.
Henry said in an interview that Brown, who died in April, and her family have received compensation as part of a contract for the use of her likeness on the packaging. As for the issue of using a Black woman’s likeness on the package, as well as the use of the tagline “Pimento Cheese with Soul,” Henry said that he was unaware of the impact and harm that would have on the Black community.
On social media, calls for a boycott of Palmetto Cheese remain. But Henry pleaded at the press conference for support as he moved forward in the coming weeks.
“There is a concerted effort to boycott Palmetto cheese,” Henry said. “Please consider the hundreds of South Carolina jobs that depend on its success. We humbly ask for your support.”
Some people have also called for his resignation, but he said he did not have plans to resign as mayor of Pawleys Island.
“I can’t allow this to not go in a positive direction,” Henry said, referencing the foundation and other efforts to help the community heal. Later in the interview, he added, “I’m changing and I’m listening. ... I made one comment that was emotionally driven. So I think the community at large knows me better than that.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Pawleys Island mayor apologizes for Facebook post, plans rebrand of Palmetto Cheese."
