Mix-up With African-American Congregation Leads Famous Dave's Into Racial Bias Controversy

Pastor Arthur Porter and his team at New Nation Church in Aurora ordered delivery from Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que on Father’s Day, June 17, for the whole congregation. Porter and his colleagues had ordered from the chain’s branch in Stapleton plenty of times before, and church members had always enjoyed the Southern barbecue. But on this occasion, what started as a celebration turned into what Porter initially believed to be an act of racial discrimination.

When the food was delivered to the church, the lids of two of the containers of cornbread had this message: “cornbread Black/negro.” Porter was shocked and thought they referred to the fact that he presides over a black church. “We were very offended," he says. "We didn’t understand why that was written on our food. If you’re an African American and you received that, you don’t know if they put something in the food or not.”