The owner of a greasy spoon has raised some eyebrows after very publicly attacking obese people.
Mark Young runs Belfast Breakfast Baps and has been dishing up fried breakfasts and more from 5.30am seven days a week.
But his cafe is facing backlash after he shared a post on social media criticising obese people who use mobility scooters.
Sharing a picture of a scooter, he said: ‘If you’re in one of these because you’re morbidly obese please know you are not disabled you’re fat and probably not very useful.
‘IT MOST DEFINITELY IS YOUR FAULT. Thyroid issues are workable and you are taking away resources from those who actually deserve.
‘How about park the mobility scooter and walk fatty and maybe even eventually run?’
The post has attracted criticism, with one even suggesting he is ‘part of the problem, not the solution’ due to his cafe’s menu.
Meals available to order at Belfast Breakfast Baps include bacon, sausage, egg and black pudding baps served in either rolls, soda bread or potato bread – all apparently fried if clips of the kitchen shared online are any indication.
The cafe also offers the Titanic Breakfast Bap challenge for a whopping £35.
Customers who want to brave the bap must finish eight eggs, eight pieces of bacon, eight sausages, eight black puddings, beans, and mushrooms, in just 45 minutes – but those who succeed get their mega meal for free.
None of which, commenters suggest, are conducive to a healthy diet.
Kerry Noble pointed out: ‘Says the business who’s cooking high fat food to contribute to people being overweight. You’re part of the problem, not the solution.’
Crystal Brook Costa asked: ‘Is your food so terrible that you need rage bait for engagement?’
And Danielle Burns commented: ‘Says the business who serves the fattiest, highest cholesterol, heart attack inducing foods.’
Others have hit back at the business’s claims about thyroid issues.
Stephen Montgomery pointed out: ‘When people have mobility issues they tend to put weight on as they can no longer exercise properly. Surely doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out?
‘How about you mind your own business when it comes to others’ health and keep your opinions to yourself if you’re gonna tear someone down.
‘Absolutely disgusting at your big age. So uneducated.’
Professor Paul Gately, CEO of Obesity UK, said he was ‘gobsmacked’ by the post, adding: ‘Fundamentally it’s incredibly discriminatory and it really feels it’s attention grabbing at the expense of people suffering from a disease.
‘People living with obesity face discrimination every single day. This demonstrates the way in which some people judge people living with obesity, when for many countries across the planet obesity is identified as a disease.
‘I just don’t see that as an appropriate form of business at all.’
The owner of Belfast Breakfast Baps, 39-year-old Mark Young, is sticking by his comments despite the backlash and insists he was not targeting people with disabilities.
He said: ‘It’s a free world, and critics are welcome to abuse away, it’s not doing me any harm really.’
He’s since shared multiple positive reviews from customers on the business Facebook page, and has alluded to the post in more recent updates, saying ‘see you all tomorrow from 5.30am with pitchforks or for breakfasts, either welcome’.
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