MIDTOWN EAST — A Midtown pizza parlor that added a pie named "Pic-a-Nika" — made with fried chicken, watermelon and sunflower seeds — to its menu last week quickly yanked the offering after scathing backlash from civil rights protestors.

Pizza by Certé at 132 E. 56th St. at Lexington added the pie to its menu roughly a week ago, insisting that it was meant to stand for a picnic lunch, as pronounced with an Italian accent. But last Thursday, they began being bombarded by phone calls and emails from people complaining that the new item was racist and offensive, according to Certé's manager Vincent Guzman.

At roughly 9 a.m. Friday, members of the group Millions March NYC — which was created in the wake of Eric Garner's death — protested on the sidewalk outside the eatery, distributing fliers to passersby with a description of the dish's ingredients and the words "#boycottracism" and "#blacklivesmatter."

"Racist restaurant Pizza By Cer Té on 56th & Lex is selling 'Pic-a-nika' pizza w/ fried chicken, watermelon, and sunflower seeds. And think thats ok," Millions March NYC wrote on its Facebook page. "So you best believe we are shutting them down."

On Friday morning, in response to the outcry, Pizza By Certé announced on its Facebook page that it had changed the name of the pie to "Picnic Pizza."

"When we named the pizza 'Pic-a-nika' we disrespected an entire community, perpetuated a hurtful ideology and brought embarrassment to ourselves," the eatery stated on its Facebook page. "In a time and climate when words carry so much charge, we chose beyond poorly and cannot erase or ignore the damaging effects it has caused."

A day after the protest, the restaurant posted apologies on its Facebook and Twitter accounts and said that it had decided to pull the item from its menu altogether.

To the people of New York City and to those who were offended by the sign. And specifically and especially to the Black... Posted by Pizza by Certé on Friday, August 14, 2015

Vincent Guzman, a manager at Certé, told DNAinfo that the company regularly changes its menu and the idea for the new dish was made with summer in mind.

"When we made it we never thought that it would offend anyone," Guzman said. "We create to feed, not to offend."

Other menu items at Pizza by Certé include "Shrooms," a pizza with roasted wild mushrooms, the "Saw-Seech," with chicken sausage crumble, rappini and peppers, and a thincrust slice called the "Godfather" with cured meats.

The owner and chef of the restaurant, Edward Sylvia, a Long Island native, said he wasn't aware of the implications when he created the new pizza with his Italian father's accent in mind.

"I’m not a racist so I would never look at things at that way, but it was my mistake and that was totally ignorant on my part," Sylvia said in a phone interview on Monday." I should pay attention more to what is going on in the world today, rather than spending time in the kitchen. The social responsibility of it was not there."

This week Sylvia, Guzman and their staff have been meeting with leaders from the community to make sure it doesn't happen again, Guzman said.

"We took it off the menu and tried to remove everything to make it right," Guzman said.

Millions March NYC did not immediately respond for comment.

On Monday night, Sylvia posted a video on the restaurant's Facebook page apologizing and explaining where he says he went wrong.