A new Toronto café is in hot water after a news report mentioned an off-menu latte called the Tupac, which “has five shots, and is dotted with five milk “bullet holes.”’
Run and Gun Coffee opened two weeks ago on Dundas St. West and is inspired by “art,” said the husband of the café owner, Jason Lootz, to the Star.
The name of the drink is an apparent reference to rapper Tupac Shakur who was gunned down while riding in a car in Las Vegas in 1996.
Dubbed the latte “perfect for when even you’re not sure whether you yourself are alive or dead,” the beverage has left a bitter taste in many mouths.
“This is beyond repulsive,” wrote one Twitter commenter.
“I hope someone told em [sic] this is a bad and disrespectful idea,” wrote another.
Many people were furious after it seemed to inappropriately try to make light of how Tupac was shot to death at the age of 25.
Lootz said it was “not inspired by his final shooting, it was inspired by an earlier one,” where he was shot five times and survived.
But the name, says Lootz, has been taken “totally, totally out of context.
“The Tupac latte is not on our menu, it was never, really, meant to be on there,” he said.
During a media interview, a customer “who had been playfully ordering” the drink since the café opened, happened to order it, said Lootz, which is how word of the drink got out.
The five dots of milk to represent bullet holes “happened on the spot” for the photo, said Lootz, adding that prior to that there was just regular latte milk art for it.
“The drink is not even on the menu. It will not be available in the future despite a swell of demand from the controversy out of sensitivity to those who may take offence,” said café owner, Jihae Chae,
But references to murdered black hip hop artists are not limited to the latte. A post on the café’s Instagram shows a sandwich-board sign with a chalk drawing of The Notorious B.I.G. holding an espresso cup saying, “Who double shot ya?”
Lootz says the café would “never disrespect such a huge legend, (Tupac), and pretty much the cornerstone of my youth.”
The media attention has been earning the café lots of “likes” on Instagram, he said, adding “I think for the true hip hop heads and fans out there they get the reference.”
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