Iowa Bar Ditches Terrible ‘MLKegs’ Idea Following Criticism

This week in our ongoing series Wow What a Fucking Terrible Idea, we have word of a bar backing out of originally announced plans to host a “MLKegs” event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Indeed, the Des Moines Register reported Monday that Deringer’s Public Parlor in Cedar Falls, Iowa originally planned to throw the MLKegs event Sunday. Per a since-deleted Facebook post promoting the ill-advised shindig, this “MLKegs” was set to include purchaseable items such as 10-buck unlimited kegs, three-buck shots, and pizza that’s somehow only $7.

However, a closer inspection of the bar’s Facebook page suggests that the page operator simply amended the name of the event and subsequently edited the (laughably ugly) flyer. Something called “Sunday Funday Kegger” took place instead on Sunday and apparently offered the exact same specials.

“We’re sorry if we offended anyone—that wasn’t our intention,” bar owner Darin Beck told the Register. “I can see how some people would view it as insensitive, but we weren’t thinking about it in that light.” For those unfamiliar with Iowa, “MLKegs” is apparently an ongoing source of contention in that region. In fact, Beck said the scrapped event was inspired in part by tweets from this account:

As of 2018, U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for Iowa show that the state is 91.1 percent white. Deringer’s did not immediately respond to Complex’s request for additional comment.

In related news of this variety, there were other similarly tasteless events planned surrounding Martin Luther King Jr. Day in similarly questionable states. For example, MAGA cultees down in Alabama actually went through with this Robert E. Lee bullshit after running a strategic ad for it in local newspaper The Anniston Star:

These are all very bad ideas. Stop doing them.