Backlash targets McAllen coffee shop mistaken for San Antonio business accused of insensitive Uvalde remarks

A popular McAllen coffee shop has mistakenly been targeted for condemnation aimed at social media trolling that’s targeted this week’s tragic shooting massacre at a Uvalde school.

The owner of Cultūra Coffee House in McAllen says the business and its staff have fielded death threats and angry calls and complaints over comments he says are associated with a San Antonio business that operates under a similar name, but is not affiliated with Cultūra in McAllen in any way.

“An individual from San Antonio, owner of a coffee shop with the same name made comments about the Uvalde incident. We have been facing the backlash, our employees are receiving calls with death threats and curses,” Christopher Hernandez, owner of Cultūra in McAllen, said in social media messages to The Monitor on Saturday. “But we are receiving horrible reviews and we are being affected.”

The misplaced backlash was such that the local business had to issue a statement, describing the remarks that the owner of the San Antonio coffee shop made as “hideous,” and are in no way affiliated with Cultūra in McAllen.

Social media users have shared a screengrab of a Facebook post made by someone named Anthony Benavides — who Hernandez said is the owner of the San Antonio coffee shop in question — that included a meme mocking a photo of two Uvalde parents embracing in tears, and referred to the victims by using an insensitive term.

There were 21 innocents including 19 children who died in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde on Tuesday, prompting calls for gun reform and more actionable measures from Gov. Greg Abbott.

“We do not condone the comments made by such individual. We mourn the tragedy that occurred this week along (with) our community members, and demand our government leaders for gun-control reform,” the McAllen Cultūra statement read.