Twitpic incites controversy over NBC’s “Black History Month menu”

The image above allegedly depicts a quick change to a menu posted in the cafeteria at NBC studios in New York after outrage rapidly ignited on the internet over the original selections.

NBC cook Leslie Calhoun, who selected the items in honor of Black History Month, is confused about the controversy swirling around her menu choices- consisting of fried chicken, collards and black eyed peas. Jimmy Fallon’s Roots band’s drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson posted a Twitpic that began circulating rapidly, but it was he who actually requested the dishes, Calhoun told the Post:

“Questlove, who I serve every day and who enjoys my food, requested the neck bone [cooked in] the black-eyed peas and fried chicken, then got off the line, saying, ‘This is racist,’ ” she said.

“The next thing you know, people were taking pictures of the sign and asking all the other black people in the cafeteria if this was racist. They said that it wasn’t.”

Calhoun, who is herself black, has been “begging” for 8 years to do a special menu featuring such items in February and finally got her wish this year- though it’s looking like that may not continue, thanks to Thompson. Calhoun says she’d planned to prepare dishes like the chicken, collards and black-eyed peas each Thursday and doesn’t understand why people are offended, telling the Post:

“I don’t understand it at all. It’s what I eat.”

Is it even possible for a black woman to be racist in efforts to honor Black History month? It seems to me, if Calhoun’s account is honest, that she was manipulated by ?uestlove- perhaps in an attempt to get more Twitter attention. Thompson titled his Twitpic “hmmm HR?”, which seems to imply that he’d like to see disciplinary action over the menu. That he requested. Bear in mind this man is in a band on TV, and Calhoun is a woman who cooks in the cafeteria. Kind of douchey, there, ?uestlove.

An hour after he posted the Twitpic, the drummer decided he needed a time-out from Twitter:

“i think i need a twitter break. i done started something. and now i must put out fire.”