A popular Japanese restaurant chain in Russia has apologized for a Facebook post which suggested that obese girls pig out on pizza while pinups nibble on Udon noodles. The meme was deleted after a social media backlash.

The offending message, posted to Tanuki’s official Facebook page, featured an overweight woman paired against a very slim, curvy female in a tight dress.

“After going to Go-Go Pizza,” read the text above the overweight woman, referring to a Russian pizza delivery chain. The slender brunette, on the other hand, is what young ladies apparently look like after “going to Tanuki.”

Social media users had a difficult time stomaching the joke. For starters, the overweight woman is not from a stock photo, but is none other than Whitney Thore, a popular US television personality who suffers from a hormone disorder and is a tireless campaigner against body shaming.

Russian media reports pointed out that it’s highly unlikely that Thore would have agreed to let Tanuki use her photograph for the fat-shaming meme.

Others complained that the meme was a tasteless affront to Go-Go and its customers – especially since Tanuki’s social media manager reportedly tagged the pizza company’s CEO when sharing the image on his personal page.

Bombarded by accusations of sexism, body shaming, copyright infringement and general poor taste, Tanuki pulled the post after two hours and issued an apology, admitting that it had gone too far.

“We admit that we went too far. We wanted to be provocative, but the sense of proportion left us,” the apology read. “We especially want to stress that we didn’t know about Whitney Thore’s disease and in no way wanted to hurt people with health problems. Forgive us, please. We won’t be like this again!”

The apology received mixed reviews from the outlet’s customer base, with some wondering who was actually offended by the post, while others speculated that Tanuki pulled the meme because it feared a lawsuit from Thore.

Also on rt.com Reebok embraces social justice in Russia with bizarre ‘face-sitting’ feminist ad

The gaffe comes just days after Reebok was roasted for a controversial Russian ad campaign which promoted female empowerment. The ads received negative reviews for their over-the-top messages.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!