Pizza Chain Mocks MMIWG, Sparks Backlash

0:00It's April 15, this is Calgary News Today, driven by AI, a Calgary area pizza chain called Paul's Pizza is catching heat for a now-deleted Facebook post that mocked missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls or MMIWG. The spot, open in air dry since 1995, with Calgary locations too, advertised half-priced Thursdays but added a nasty twist saying full. Case for MMIWG, two SLGBTQIA-plus members to feel special in their safe space. When folks call it out online, the restaurants page fire back that if they're missing and murdered, they won't get discounts anyway. Owner later claimed he didn't know the acronym and was just poking fun at the long LGBTQ-plus labels insisting he doesn't support violence against. Case women or anyone, reactions poured in fast, with online fury, boycott calls, and a petition pushing air dry city to yank their business license over hate speech.

1:01Some locals shrugged it off, saying social media won't sway their pizza runs while others defended free speech even if they hated the joke. Air dry's mayor, Heather Spearman, slammed it publicly, noting it hurts real families grieving losses. But she and the city may clear they can't shut down a business for offensive posts, as that had opened a bad door and urged reporting to RCMP, human, rights commission, or better business bureau instead. This saga shows how quick social media jabs can spark big backlash, leaving businesses to face the heat from customers and watchdogs rather than city, hall crackdowns.