Expect A Megyn Kelly Meltdown In 3…2…
Thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement, people have called for the banishment of statues of racists, HBO Max is including a special introduction about race with their showing of Gone with the Wind, Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A (or as we know them as, Lady Ay!LearnHowToFuckingGoogle), and now Quaker Oats is finally retiring Aunt Jemima for being a racist stereotype. “May we suggest that you just change her name to Aunt J?” said the re-branding experts known as Lady A(ntebellum).
The Aunt Jemima pancake mix made its debut in 1889, and since then, the brand has used a Black woman as its logo. As historian Riché Richardson wrote in The New York Times in 2015, the Aunt Jemima brand was based on the minstrel song “Old Aunt Jemima” which was about a stereotypical mammy type. The original Aunt Jemima was reportedly played in minstrel shows by a white dude in blackface. Nancy Green, a former slave, played the character of Aunt Jemima and made appearances and cooked pancakes at world fairs and other events from 1890 until her death in 1923. Other Black women played the character throughout the years. And the logo has been “modernized.” They tried to move away from the mammy archetype and show Aunt Jemima as a homemaker. But many have not forgotten that Aunt Jemima has syrupy roots in racism.
And since many are putting an industrial-strength magnifying glass on America’s racist ways, people have shit on the fact that Aunt Jemima is still sold in stores. Singer Kirby did this TikTok about how to make a non-racist breakfast and it went viral:
@singkirbysing How To Make A Non Racist Breakfast. #blacklivesmatter #endracism #endracism2020 #blackvoicesheard #blackwomen #allblacklivesmatter Kolors
NBC News says that Quaker Oats has realized that Aunt Jemima is now bad for business, so they are getting rid of the name and logo. As bottles of Hungry Jack puff up their chests and stand up all proud-like over the thought of them soon ruling the maple syrup game, Quaker Oats announced the retirement of Aunt Jemima.
Quaker, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, said removing the image and name is part of an effort by the company “to make progress toward racial equality.”
“We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, said in a press release. “As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations.”
Kroepfl said the company has worked to “update” the brand to be “appropriate and respectful” but it realized the changes were insufficient.
Score another one for those future-tellers at The Onion.
Since Quaker Oats is finally getting rid of the Aunt Jemima brand, many threw eyes at Uncle Ben and Mrs. Butterworth. Mars. Inc, the makers of Uncle Ben, issued a statement saying that they are “evaluating” the “possibilities” of changing the brand. Mrs. Butterworth’s original bottle was apparently modeled after the mammy stereotype. And Thelma “Butterfly” McQueen, who played Prissy in Gone with the Wind, was the model for the original bottle. Conagra Brands, the company that manufactures Mrs. Butterworth, haven’t said if they’re also going to re-brand Mrs. Butterworth.
Well, if you work in a grocery store anywhere near Megyn Kelly’s home, you better bring an umbrella with you to work today. Because the sprinklers are going to go off from the fiery flames of rage shooting off of Megyn Kelly as she runs in to grab every box and bottle of Aunt Jemima while she still can and screams about the end of HER America. If you work in a grocery store near Paula Deen’s home, you should bring an umbrella to work too. Shit, I need to buy stock in umbrella companies.
Pic: Blue Mountain Peak