Pablo's Escoburgers Owner Will Only Change Restaurant’s Name On One Condition ~ NEWSOLOGIES

Recently a pop-up restaurant in Melbourne called Pablo's Escoburger hit headlines not only for its controversial name, but also for one of its burgers, which comes topped with a line of white powder that looks a lot like cocaine and a fake $100 American bill.

While many people found the concept amusing, the burger and restaurant ruffled a fair few feathers, with one person writing on the restaurant's Facebook page: "NOT FUNNY. NOT OKAY."

"I'd like to see someone try and explain that to their kid who just wants to eat a burger?" another Facebooker commented.

Someone else said: "How can we explain (to) you people that IT ISN'T FUNNY? Try to do that with Hitler and see what happens. Use your brain folks."

But owner Vaughan Marks has denied claims that the restaurant and its menu celebrates or makes light of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, asserting the name merely alluded to Escobar, rather than 'glorifying' him.

He's also explained he won't be changing the name of the restaurant - that is unless everyone manages to raise $100 million for charity.

Speaking to SBS Spanish, he said: "If it hurts so much and they want us to change the name, then let's do it for a reason, if we can gather all those who are against the name, and work as a team to raise $100 million for a charity of their choice, then if we can raise that amount of money, we will change the name, that makes sense to me.

"Let's make this pain worthwhile and let's help a charity that can solve a problem in this world."

Marks continued: "There has always been a fascination for films like Blow or Scarface, so we thought that the name we gave to our business could be appropriate, and the name is a point of difference.

"It's not his name, Pablo's Escoburgers is just a play on words, I do not defend Pablo and I do not want to glorify him, I think he was a horrible person, but it occurred to us to play with words, because it sounded funny, but this does not mean that Pablo is funny or that everything he has done is funny."

Marks says his establishment has been given a 2-star rating on Facebook because, he claims, a bunch of angry Colombians downvoted him for glorifying Escobar.

As a response, the restaurant said in a statement: "We are very proud of our burgers but we do also understand that Pablo Escobar was a horrible man who destroyed the lives of thousands of Colombians.

"We do not condone, idolise or promote Pablo Emilio Escobar or his actions in anyway. We are however Australian and know how to have a laugh about a good play on words.

"Its just a name of a pop-up burger bar not really a theme. Hard not to offend someone in 2019."