Highland Park Deli Co-Owner Ousted After Calling Las Vegas Mass Shooting 'Community Outreach'

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 6, 2017 4:30PM

The deli co-owner responsible for a series of controversial social media posts has essentially been terminated. Max's Deli, in Highland Park, has cut ties with co-owner Greg Morelli. Joey Morelli, Greg's brother and also a co-owner of Max's, said that he aims to purchase his brother's portion of the business as soon as possible, according to the Highland Park News.

The coup de grâce for Morelli came after he took to Twitter in the wake of the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas. In a since-deleted tweet, Morelli posted, "White people shooting white people isn't terror, it's community outreach. #LasVegas."

Screenshot of Greg Morelli's tweet, since taken down

Not unsurprisingly, the blowback was swift and potent. The deli staff received angry and threatening calls, Morelli posted on Facebook, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, which had previously hosted a dialogue at Max's, said it was outraged by the tweet and done with the deli.

There was seemingly no other option but push the disgraced co-owner aside. "He is out, he has agreed to be out and he is gone," Joey Morelli said, according to Highland Park News. "I love him, but he must move on with his life and address his issues."

Even before Greg Morelli's Las Vegas tweet, he had placed himself and the deli at the center of another firestorm. Morelli drew criticism after, in the wake of the Charlottesville attacks, he posted on the deli's website a cartoon version of the deli's menu, which on the Trump-esque figure sporting a swastika armband and a tee shirt that read, "I'm with Alt-Right," alongside a list of the deli's High Holiday carryout items. Morelli defended the cartoon, but it too brought forth a wave of consternation.

That post has since been deleted. In fact, the entire Facebook account for Max's Deli was no longer online as of Friday morning.