Activists have shut down a fish and chips shop in Australia after its owner decided to name her business The Battered Wife.
Carolyn Kerr opened up the business but almost immediately came under fire for the name in October 2018. Community groups, non-profit organizations, politicians and advocates fighting to end domestic violence slammed the name.
Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath of Queensland said the restaurant’s name is unacceptable.
That business is completely out of step with what [the] community’s expectations are.”
Kerr said she’s a former police officer and named her shop that to bring awareness to the issue.
But she said she has no choice to close down after getting complaints with the latest being an audit over staff wages.
“I was a police officer way back when, and after that domestic violence liaison through courts, and then I found myself in a situation where I was in that as well and I just thought, “you know, it’s my little stand to try to make awareness”.
Kerr also shared a picture of her with a black eye in the shop’s official page, saying that she got it after stepping in and protecting a woman from an abusive partner.
A Gofundme page was launched to help save the business from shutting down.
As some of you have seen in the past the massive uproar about a harmless spin on words for a wonderful fish and chip shop. The public have been so supportive of this wonderful local shop so now everyone needs to band together to help keep this shop and a woman’s dream alive. I’ve set this go fund me up on my own accord I don’t know how much is needed but I’m hoping the people of Australia can find it inside of themselves to dig deep to help keep this wonderful shop alive.
The page was supposed to raise $5,000 and it has since exceeded that amount.
Kerr says she plans to close down on January 28.