Yelp is warning users that some reviews may be removed from the page for a Colorado bakery at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case that was decided on Monday.
The justices ruled 7-2 in favor of Jack Phillips, a baker who owns and operates Masterpiece Cakeshop, who refused to make a cake for a gay couple’s wedding due to his religious opposition to gay marriage.
As a result of the high-profile case returning to the forefront of the news, a number of politically charged comments appeared on Masterpiece Cakeshop’s Yelp page, leading to the crowd-sourced review website to issue an “Active Cleanup Alert.”
“This business recently made waves in the news, which often means that people come to this page to post their views on the news,” a message on the bakery’s Yelp page said.
“While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to these news events, we do work to remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer’s personal consumer experience with the business,” the message continued. “As a result, your posts to this page may be removed as part of our cleanup process beginning Monday, June 4, 2018, but you should feel free to post your thoughts about the recent media coverage for this business on Yelp Talk at any time.”
Multiple reviews that could be found on the cake shop’s Yelp page were critical of its stance on not baking cakes for gay couples.
“Giving a one-star review because their menu doesn’t include ‘hatred and bigotry’ as options,” one negative review said.
“Disgusting,” read another. “More like masterpiece of sh*t.”
“They do a really great job of balancing the prejudice with the discrimination – you know, sometimes you get too much of one or the other, but here they pile on BOTH! What a deal. Mmm, tastes like fresh hot bigotry,” said a third review. “If you’re not looking to buy hatred sweets, go elsewhere.”
All three gave one-star reviews to Masterpiece Cakeshop. Overall, as of press time, the cake shop had an overall two-and-a-half star rating.
[Also read: The 6 blockbuster cases to watch as the Supreme Court term ends]
