Washington bakery owner retracts apology for ‘Build that Wall’ Valentine’s Day cookies

A bakery owner in Washington state backtracked his apology for creating “Build that Wall” Valentine’s Day cookies, deciding to resell the cookies because, he said, “people should lighten up.”

Edmonds Bakery owner Ken Bellingham took back his apology after he got messages from people across the country who said they wanted the pro-Trump cookies, Bellingham told KOMO News on Thursday.

Bellingham said he added a “Lighten Up” heart-shaped cookie for those questioning his designs.

“Am I supposed to be quiet because I can’t write what I want, or I can only write what they want or makes them happy?” he asked. “No. That’s not how it is. They can write whatever they want on their own cookie and I can do that on mine.”{mosads}

President Trump has promised since the campaign trail and throughout his presidency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Trump’s demands for billions of dollars in funding for the wall triggered an impasse between him and lawmakers, ultimately leading to a 35-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. The shutdown ended late last month after Trump signed a three-week funding bill that did not include money for his border wall.

Bellingham faced backlash this week after a customer named Ana Carrera posted a picture of the cookie online.

“It’s hard to see words like that,” she told NBC affiliate King 5 News. “We were born here, but my parents were the stories you see on the news of people crossing the border because they just want a new start.”

Carrera said her parents came to the United States from Mexico in the 1980s.

Bellingham initially apologized for what he originally called a light-hearted joke and not a political statement.

“Some are a little risqué, some are nice,” he said. “I’m back there trying to think of what to write on a cookie. I try to be funny.”

The bakery then issued a statement on Facebook, saying the cookies will not longer be political in nature.