Victor Chavarria may have initially thought his display of piñatas was harmless advertising for his business, but he was in for quite the rude awakening.
According to CNN, the owner of Happy Kids Piñatas has apologized after receiving complaints for hanging piñatas of black people on his front porch. On Friday, a passerby took a photo of the piñata display on Chavarria's front porch and the picture immediately went viral.
Dear Minneapolis WTF is this?!?!? pic.twitter.com/4M1iE6JKOU— Ian (@ian_s7) May 4, 2018
The way the piñatas were displayed resembled a lynching, which certainly didn't look good for Chavarria, despite his intentions.
Apparently, this all blew up after Chavarria fulfilled a request for piñatas designed to resemble a customer's wedding party, which consisted of racially diverse members. He hung the piñatas out to dry.
However, after the picture went viral, his family — including his wife and two toddlers — received many threats. Chavarria ended up having to call the police due to the number of threats, and people driving by his home. Following the controversy, Chavarria decided to cancel the order.
"There's no hate in this home. I don't know how else to deliver this message," Chavarria said. "I'm very, very sorry for my lack of judgment and lack of sensitivity."
In addition to his apology, Chavarria admitted he realized just how bad the display looked out of context.
"Out of context, I admit the images look disturbing," he said. "Out of context everything can be horrible."
Chavarria also noted that despite the headache, the incident has sparked much-needed and productive conversation with his African American neighbors who are helping him understand the specific racial insensitivities.