A pub in Belfast has issued a public apology after facing strong criticism over the "sexist" permission slips they handed out for the "girlfriends, wives and fiancees" of their male customers.
The Town Square pub shared a copy of the novelty permission slip to Instagram, joking that their patrons would need to have them signed by their partners in order to watch the Six Nations games "with the lads" - yikes!
Needless to say, the cheeky post was not well received by social media users, who accused the pub of contributing to "everyday sexism" as well as "alienating and disparaging half the population."
The joke permission slip reads: "Dear Girlfriend/Fiancé/Wife, Your Boyfriend/Fiancé/Husband has been invited to watch the rugby with the lads at Town Square Belfast on the following dates: [Five dates listed.]
"These outings obviously require your permission. Kind regards, The Lads."
The post was soon shared to Twitter, where it was slammed as "cringe" and "outdated."
One Twitter user remarked: "F**king hell. More cheese than Dairylea", whilst another wrote: "I could never be friends with anyone who finds this one bit funny."
Another wrote: "Christ the night. There's another Belfast business to add to the boycott list," whilst a different user wrote: "GOOD F**KING GOD I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS S**T."
A fellow Twitter user said: "I love the Six Nations but this makes me want to barf."
After receiving a backlash, the pub took the image down, but soon reuploaded a modified permission slip with the gender terms changed, and the hashtags #notjustformen", "#politicalcorrectness", and "#girlslikerugbytoo" added in the description.
That post was also pulled from the pub's social media shortly after. Probably for the best.
Belfast woman Kat Freeman, 25, was one of many who disagreed with the pub's messaging, tweeting: "You know what's such a good business decision by Town Square? Alienating and disparaging literally half the population!"
Speaking about the permission slip post, she said: "Mostly it was just cringe to be honest, it's kind of sad that they thought this is what peak humour looks like.
"When I saw they deleted and reposted it to be 'gender neutral' but still had to get a dig in with further sexist 'snowflake' hashtags, before then deleting it entirely, I really had to laugh.
"Absolutely embarrassing to think that joke was ever worth fixing and reposting to be honest. I mean this 50s 'My wife doesn't let me do XYZ' thing is so outdated.
Kat went on to say that she's not surprised the Town Square is facing so much criticism for the post.
She said: "I think it's made such a response because it's rare to see a business making such a stupid, thoughtless post, and even rarer to see them back it up when called out on it.
"Like this is your business, dude, not your personal page, if customers are calling you out, probably best to just delete it and retreat to the shadows with your tail between your legs, or better yet, apologise and don't try to pretend it didn't happen after you didn't get enough backup from the anti-political-correctness defenders."
A spokesperson for Town Square Belfast has since issued a statement about the poorly-received permission slip, saying: "We don't usually mind ruffling a few feathers with our social media, but in this instance, we're genuinely sorry for any offence caused. The post was removed shortly after it was published."
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Ali Condon