Costco removes Palmetto Cheese after founder’s BLM comments

Costco has removed Palmetto Cheese from 120 of its stores nationwide after the founder of the pimento cheese company posted a controversial message on Facebook, slamming Black Lives Matter and Antifa movements as ‘terror organizations.’ 

Owner Brian Buck Henry, who is also the mayor of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, has confirmed that his brand of spicy cheese spread was being yanked from store shelves but has sought to downplay the move. 

‘Costco rotates items in and out during the course of the year. They will occasionally add and drop products as a matter of normal business,’ Henry told The Post and Courier. ‘We remain optimistic that Palmetto Cheese will be back on the shelves in the not too distant future.’

Costco has not commented on its decision to remove Palmetto Cheese from a portion of its 785 big-box stores.

Henry has sparked calls for boycott on social media after posting an angry rant on his Facebook page last month, decrying the slaying of ‘2 white people defenselessly gunned down by a black man.’

Henry’s screed referenced the August 24 killings of Nick Wall and his 21-year-old stepdaughter, Laura Anderson, who police say were shot and killed by Tysheem Walters III after a car crash and altercation in Georgetown, which also injured a third person.

‘So why do we stand by and allow BLM to lawlessly destroy great American cities and threaten their citizens on a daily basis,’ Henry wrote the following day. ‘Should they have a carde blanche license to pillage and destroy. Why? This has gone too far. Rise up, America. This BLM and Antifa movement must be treated like the terror organizations they are.’ 

Henry, who is white, went on to state: ‘all lives matter. There I said it. So am I a racist now? I think not. How about the POS who just gunned down three defenseless white people? You be the judge.’ 

There is no evidence to suggest that Walters has ties to the Black Lives Matter movement, or that the violent incident was related to it. He has been charged with two counts of murder.  

The Georgetown chapter of the NAACP lambasted Henry’s now-deleted status update as ‘racist’ and demanded that he resign as mayor of Pawleys Island. 

Meanwhile, Henry’s critics have been promoting the hashtag #BoycottPimento on social media.  

Earlier this month, Henry called a press conference and apologized for his remarks. 

‘I am profoundly sorry to those I offended with my post last week. My comments were hurtful and insensitive,’ Henry told reporters on September 3. ‘I spent that past 10 days listening and learning. 

‘The conversations I’ve had with friends, our staff, the community and faith-based leaders provided me with a deeper understanding of racial inequality and the importance of diversity sensitivity, which is very much needed to heal Pawleys Island, Georgetown and our country.’ 

Henry, who founded Palmetto Cheese with his wife, Sassy, in 2006, also appealed to his critics to end the calls for a boycott.

‘Please consider the hundreds of South Carolinians’ jobs that depend on its success,’ he pleaded.   

Palmetto Cheese is still sold in some 9,000 stores in 44 states and Washington, DC, according to the company’s website.