El Diablito was just trying to have a little fun. Except, well…
In a move that reminds us an awful lot of that scene from Napoleon Dynamite when Pedro has to visit the principal’s office after creating a piñata of his opponent Summer Wheatley, the Portland-based food cart known for its tacos and tortas staged a fun little beating of presidential candidate (yes, still) Donald Trump during its grand re-opening on Saturday.
The owner, of course, pleads that it was all in fun. “It has nothing to do about politics, actually,” he tells a reporter in the video. “It’s about having a good time.” And showing off his sick piñata-making skills (he used to make paper sculptures).
But a woman in a feathered headdress at the beginning of the video is clearly saying something different from the owner’s statement. “For everyone who wished to break something, we wanna break away the hate, we wanna break away the…anti-Muslim, anti-people, anti-children, anti-immigrant feelings, all the racism, the stereotyping, all the anti-women…all the hate that he has in his heart, we’re breaking tonight.”
And further on, after a montage of children screaming and swinging at Trump, one of the breakers states her intentions for breaking the piñata: “Because, f*** Trump.”
Whatever the intentions, El Diablito has certainly been in the spotlight for the events of this weekend. A few have taken to the food truck’s Yelp page to complain, leaving one-star reviews such as the following:
“Racist owners!!!! They hung a pinata of a white man from the ceiling and had CHILDREN try to knock it down!!!! This is a hate crime and their children should be taken away from them.”
Others, of course, are being more rational about the incident, reminding reviewers that they are there to talk about El Diablito’s food and not their politics.
Yelp reviews aside, El Diablito’s 15 minutes of fame will eventually die down, and they will be left to keep doing the one thing they do the best: making delicious food for Portlanders.
