Bar thinks Bill Cosby-themed cocktail is a good idea until severe backlash
The "Pill Cosby" cocktail didn’t last long on a bar menu after the internet found out about it.
The pink hibiscus tequila drink -- complete with drug capsules floating in the ice -- was being served at Diet Starts Monday, a pop-up bar and restaurant in Washington, D.C., according to the Washingtonian. On Monday, the same day jury selection began for disgraced comedian Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial, the cocktail was called out on social media. Sixty women have accused him of sexual assault, with many claiming that he drugged them.
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The restaurant, which features other drinks named for famous stars like Dave Chappelle, Duke Ellington and Marvin Gaye, had five stars on the online review site Yelp as of Monday morning, but by this afternoon it was down to 1.5 stars. A rash of one-star reviews came in Monday letting the establishment know its date-rape drink and attempt at humor was not funny.
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On Monday afternoon the restaurant had posted an apology on Twitter, but shortly after inexplicably removed the tweets. We've reached out to the restaurant, but haven't heard back yet.
The bar did keep up a retweet commending its choice to remove the drink.
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Before the backlash, the restaurant co-founder told the Washingtonian the drink was a funny name and "it lets people be a little more aware."
However, not too many people saw the drink as part of an awareness campaign -- rather the opposite.
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It looks like the drink had been on the menu for at least the past week and listed for $14.
Overall, a pretty terrible idea, and now the bar is paying for it.
Topics Celebrities
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
