UPDATE: In NYC, Gay Vs. Anti-Gay Battle Of The Ice Cream Shops
The famous Big Gay Ice Cream Shop has an apparently tongue-in-cheek anti-gay competitor.
Since 2009, New York City’s Big Gay Ice Cream Truck has made many people — gay and straight — very happy. Owners Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff created the niche market and saw so much success they opened non-truck stores in the East Village and West Village.
But all in the happy, gay world of delicious ice cream was not to be happy and gay forever.
Enter local New York City restaurant Gallo Nero, whose West Village location apparently is trying to slice into Big Gay Ice Cream’s territory –in a seemingly homophobic way.
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If you pass by @galloneronyc maybe you could pop in & let em know what you think of this advertising campaign. 👠pic.twitter.com/1QjSICy9lR
— Big Gay Ice Cream (@biggayicecream) September 14, 2014
That passion fruit line is pretty telling…
Gothamist has the scoop:
Sensing an acute lack of heteronormative ice cream parlors in the West Village, one Italian restaurant has positioned itself to capture the elusive demographic of those who’ll have two scoops of whatever John Wayne’s having (raw hamburger).
Reached by telephone, a manager at the restaurant seemed confused about the nature of our call.
“What’s the issue? We can call our ice cream whatever we want,” he said.
Asked if the sign was a reference to Big Gay Ice Cream, or if he could see how it may be interpreted as homophobic, the manager, who declined to provide his name, replied, “They have their own way, we have our own way.”
Clearly, the ad campaign isn’t working.
@biggayicecream @GalloNeroNYC Can’t imagine any New Yorker being willing to eat at such an unfriendly, nasty place.
— Gene Stone (@Genestone) September 15, 2014
@biggayicecream @GalloNeroNYC The chocolate appears to be touching the vanilla. Does the Bible allow that? #paranoid
— adambravo (@adambravo) September 15, 2014
@biggayicecream @GalloNeroNYC Vanilla with some homophobia on the side?
— Melissa Marks-Shih (@mmscooks) September 14, 2014
@biggayicecream @GalloNeroNYC if its not gay I’m not going to eat it
— Pixie Spice (@MissMMartine) September 14, 2014
Next time I’m in NYC, going to @biggayicecream. @GalloNeroNYC‘s BigStraightIceCream is straight-up homophobia in a cone.#lgbt #noh8
— nrdavis (@nrdavis) September 14, 2014
@biggayicecream @GalloNeroNYC ice cream sexuality is fluid- sometimes it just wants to melt all over another ice cream, regardless of gender
— Tyler A Adams (@tyleraadams) September 14, 2014
@biggayicecream @GalloNeroNYC puh-LEEZ! how incredibly lame. they’re just trying to ride on your fabulous coattails.
— Jill Tatara (@jilltataraworld) September 14, 2014
Of course, Perez Hilton had his own, um, unique take:
@GalloNeroNYC I heard your ice cream gives people diarrhea. Is that true??? I think I’ll stick with @biggayicecream!
— Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) September 15, 2014
And there was this one too:
@biggayicecream @GalloNeroNYC Love it! Finally a place for real Americans in a hotbed of socialist mania and sexual insanity.
— Hard Dawn (@OfficiaHardDawn) September 15, 2014
UPDATE: It seems the two ice cream purveyors have ended their battle and made up! Gallo Nero pulled their sign and walked over to Big Gay Ice Cream’s shop and the two had a great time.
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Image of tee shirt via Big Gay Ice Cream
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