SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio business owner facing backlash over a social media post wants you to hear him out.
Ricardo Ortiz, who owns El Camino Food Truck Park & Bar in downtown San Antonio, made a post on his Instagram page on May 3.
The post showed the “no symbol” over an image of a young man with the so-called “Edgar” haircut. Under the picture, Ortiz wrote, “Should we enforce a no chili bowl policy?”
Not everyone thought the post was funny. Twelve days after he posted it, Ortiz told KSAT some people sent him threats.
“It was just a joke,” said Ortiz.
Some people called what Ortiz wrote racist.
“It kind of just [got] blown out of proportion,” said Ortiz.
The haircut is associated with Latino men, and it’s thought to have originated from Indigenous cultures. It is described as a bowl cut with tapered sides.
“It’s just a haircut to me. I mean, it’s just something that everybody’s been doing right now,” said Ricardo Gonzalez, a barber at Jefitos Kutz.
KSAT spoke with Xavier Garcia, 20, who sports the haircut and lives on the West Side. He said he’s had it since he was in the sixth grade.
Garcia said he likes the way it looks but also admits people associate the hairstyle with crime.
“I don’t know...I guess people ruined the haircut,” said Garcia.
Ortiz wants people to know the post was never meant to be taken seriously. After all, some of his own employees have the so-called “Edgar”, which KSAT confirmed when we visited El Camino on Wednesday.
“I have a ton of family members with that haircut. I think it’s hilarious,” Ortiz said. “But I can also relate because when I was a teenager, I had the bald head with the big bangs.”
Ortiz told KSAT he won’t apologize for making a joke but also wants to make it clear how he feels about the people of San Antonio.
“I do want them to know that I love my community,” Ortiz said.