TipsyCake Owner Apologizes for Bullet, Crack Comments

TipsyCake owner Naomi Levine has apologized for comments she made that many in the Humboldt Park area deemed offensive. In an interview with City Soles TV, Levine jokingly said she moved her storefront bakery from Humboldt Park (where she continue to have the bakery kitchen) to Bucktown because there were too many bullet holes in the cakes. Humboldt Park, like many areas of Chicago, has a history of gang violence, but the comments rallied a group of local residents and business owners to protest outside of Levine's bakery today.

Levine also said one of her more popular bars was nicknamed "Humboldt Park crack" because she said that so many customers have equated it to crack for its addictive characteristics. The boycott claimed Levine's comments put the community on par with "a savage no-man's land that shoots guns into her bakery and makes her clients nervous."

In her apology, Levine said that for years, people of all ages and different ethnicities have used the term "like crack" to describe the cake nearly every day for six years so she felt it was OK to use it as a slang descriptor, too. She owns up to her comments and, while the apology seems to come from the heart, she acknowledges that not everyone will accept it, including those who have called and threatened her with violence. Many people have commented below the apology (as well as on Yelp) both in support and opposition, some saying they'll never step foot into TipsyCake while others think the whole situation was blown out of proportion and that people are being too sensitive.

What do you think of this whole situation and what side are you on? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
· Levine's Apology [Facebook]
· Crack About Humboldt Park Earns Tipsy Cake Scorn [Gapers Block]
· Call for a Boycott [Latino Rebels]

[Photo: Yelp]