Juneteenth marks the day Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that the Civil War had ended and that slavery was officially over. This day in June, specifically, June 19, 1866, has long been celebrated by African Americans in a similar way to how Americans celebrate freedom on the 4th of July. For example, there are often picnics and parties.

Juneteenth officially became a national holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed it into law. As a way of acknowledging the holiday, Walmart decided to sell a few products specifically for Juneteenth. These products included t-shirts and paper plates. They were also selling special ice-cream marketed as Juneteenth ice-cream. The label on the red velvet flavored ice-cream read, “Share and celebrate African-American culture, emancipation and enduring hope.”

Many people took to Twitter to complain about the inappropriateness of the Walmart Juneteenth products and specifically the ice-cream. As a result, Walmart decided to pull the ice-cream from their shelves. One Walmart employee said that the stores are throwing the ice-cream away.

In a statement, a spokesperson apologized for the Juneteenth products explaining, “Juneteenth holiday marks a celebration of freedom and independence; however, we received feedback that a few items caused concern for some of our customers and we sincerely apologize. We are reviewing our assortment and will remove items as appropriate.”

Watch the video below to learn more about the backlash caused by Walmart’s Juneteenth ice-cream.

Instead of buying the Juneteenth ice-cream at Walmart, some Twitter users recommend buying the Black-owned ice-cream Creamalicious which is for sale at Target.

Walmart literally saw a successful small Black business and thought they could get away with stealing their flavor and re-branding it for Juneteenth. Anyways, Creamalicious is available at Target. pic.twitter.com/y3DyzpYtGv

— A is for Afro (@Amberisms_) May 23, 2022

Creamalicious was founded by chef Liz Rogers. Her award-winning flavors combine southern pastries with delicious ice-cream to create truly unique 2 in 1 desserts.

Do you think Walmart’s Juneteenth ice-cream was in poor taste? Do you think it was a rip-off of the Creamalicious ice-cream? Are you going to buy Creamalicious ice-cream?