A popular Sydney bakery has been forced to apologise after an insensitive social media post featured paedophile Jeffrey Epstein among a lineup of celebrity guests.
Controversial Instagram Post
Stoneground Bakery in Hunters Hill, about 10km from Sydney's CBD, shared an AI-generated Instagram post intended to highlight how busy the business had been over the weekend. The post, captioned 'POV: It was a really busy weekend', featured a slideshow of recognisable figures appearing at the bakery, including actress Sydney Sweeney, Borat, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and influencer Tammy Hembrow.
But the post took a darker turn when sex offender Epstein also appeared in one of the images, depicted sitting down and enjoying a meal at the venue.
Public Backlash
Many Australians were quick to criticise the bakery, arguing there was nothing funny about including Epstein given his history of sex crimes. 'This crosses the line - it trivialises the gravity of Epstein's sex offences by using him in a promotional image,' one said.
Apology Issued
The bakery and the advertising agency behind the post, Élever Media, apologised. 'We acknowledge that the Instagram post featuring an AI generated image of Jeffery Epstein at the Stoneground Bakery was in bad taste and insensitive,' it said in a statement. 'On behalf of Élever Media and Stoneground Bakery we are deeply sorry for that. The post resulted from a breakdown in our processes and we removed it very quickly after it was posted.'
Background
Stoneground Bakery has been a popular local business since husband-and-wife team Melina and Angelo Frelingos opened it on Gladesville Road in September 2014.
