Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
A Harlem bagel shop that has served its neighborhood for nearly a decade was forced to pull a cartoon mascot from the sidewalk after an influencer declared the smiling, sunglasses-wearing bagel a "blackface bagel."
Yes, really. Bagels are now racist.
Threats and harassment followed. The offense was a piece of local street art.
'Blackface Bagel' gets axed from Harlem bagel shop https://t.co/aK1WBcm5fj https://t.co/XQBA3dlArr
— New York Post (@nypost) October 20, 2026
Bo's Bagels on West 116th Street, opened in 2017 by New York native Andrew Martinez and co-owner Ashley Dikos after they could not find decent bagels in the area, displayed a life-sized cardboard cutout that doubled as a chalkboard sign.
Designed by Harlem-based artist Tom Sanford, the mascot featured golden grills reading "Harlem World," a large gold ring marked "NYC," and the cheerful expression of a cartoon character.
Critics treated the grills, ring, and browned cartoon skin as evidence of a racist caricature.
The sequence began with Harlem photographer Carl Broady, who posted on Instagram that the sign was a "disrespectful caricature of black people."
He wrote that "the sign's exaggerated features, bulging lips and teeth, and d
