A Washington-area hamburger chain is facing criticism after it says a social media contractor posted an ad on Twitter depicting a New Hampshire freelance journalist who was executed in the Middle East.
The incident unfolded over the weekend after a tweet for the Z-Burger chain showed a photo of James Foley of Rochester, who was kidnapped in 2012 and beheaded by the Islamic State in 2014, with an image of a hamburger. According to Washingtonian, the ad read, “When you say you want a burger and someone says okay let’s hit McDonalds.” Under a picture of Foley was the message “You disgrace me.”
The Twitter ad has been taken down.
Diane Foley, the mother of the slain journalist, wrote Tuesday in a Twitter message for the James Foley Foundation that she was “very saddened that @Zburger would be so insensitive and ignorant of others’ pain while marketing their hamburger.”
On Wednesday, Peter Tabibian, owner of the Z-Burger chain, repeated his apology for the incident and explained that he hired Valor Media of Raleigh, N.C., to run his company’s Twitter account. He said he didn’t approve of the posting beforehand, adding that he demanded the contractor take it down after he heard from an angry customer.
“I’m really sorry about what happened,” Tabibian said. “I take full responsibility for what happened. It is my company.”
He continued: “I trusted someone to do stuff on behalf of us,” he said. “I made a big mistake doing that. I’m very sorry to the Foley family and his friends and anybody who knows him.”
Valor Media didn’t immediately return calls and emails seeking a response, but issued an apology on Twitter.
In a Twitter message, Z-Burger said Valor had “caused unnecessary grief to the family, friends of journalist James Foley, and has been a callous misuse of images related to his untimely death in Iraq at the hands of terrorists.”
On Tuesday, Tabibian posted on Twitter that he was ending his relationship with Valor immediately.
In an interview Wednesday, Tabibian said he hired Valor about three months ago after checking references, giving them access to post to his business’ Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts to promote the chain.
He said when he saw the post on Foley, he “almost fell out of his chair and cried.” He said he’s tried to explain and apologize to many people, including those who knew Foley.
Michael Valor, who runs Valor Media, took responsibility for the mistake.
“Being a leader means a mistake in your organization is your mistake,” Valor tweeted Tuesday. “People see this situation and most would crumble because of pressure. I will always stand tall, tell the truth and quickly fix any mistake my company or myself makes. I will always strive to be better!”
Valor said “Z-Burger had nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing to do with this at all.” He also said, “I want to apologize for putting Z-Burger’s reputation on the line.”
On Twitter, both Z-Burger and Valor promised to make donations to the James Foley Foundation.