Debate: Was the backlash against that Austin chef for a joke about brisket fair or way overblown?

Two weeks ago a well known pitmaster in Lockhart made a dumb joke on Twitter about using ketchup on brisket, and within 48 hours he lost a catering contract worth $3,000. Some say it was just a joke and cancel culture went too far, others argue he should have known better given his audience. Where do you draw the line on intent vs impact in these cases?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona_kim1mo ago

@carter.joseph you're a little off on the pricing there. A $3,000 catering gig for a Lockhart pitmaster is actually pretty decent money for a weekend. That's not counting the meat cost, it's usually the full fee for everything including labor and fuel. So losing that hit harder than you think. The real issue is that this guy's whole thing is being a "purist" about Texas barbecue. He's got shirts that say "no sauce no ketchup no bullshit." So joking about putting ketchup on brisket was weirdly personal for his brand. It felt like a betrayal to his core fans. I think the backlash was harsh but not totally unfair. He could have just said "lol kidding" and moved on. Instead he doubled down and made it a whole thing about free speech. That's what killed the contract, not the joke itself.

carter.joseph1mo ago

Man I gotta say the wildest part to me is that nobody's talking about how $3,000 for a catering contract is basically pocket change for a pitmaster in central Texas, like that's barely covering the meat cost for a weekend gig.

taraross1mo ago

Honestly think people are making this way bigger than it needs to be. A guy made a dumb joke about ketchup on brisket and some folks got mad. @fiona_kim is right that the brand betrayal part hit harder than the joke itself, but is losing a $3,000 gig really worth a whole debate about cancel culture? Plenty of pitmasters say way worse stuff and still sell out every weekend. The real reason he lost the contract is probably that the catering client didn't want the headache of drama attached to their event, not because anyone truly thought he'd slather Heinz on a $200 prime brisket. Sometimes people just need to shrug and move on instead of turning every Twitter spat into a moral crusade.