NYC bagel shop forced to remove cartoon mascot after influencer calls it blackface

This shop’s toasted.A Harlem bagel shop was forced to remove a cardboard cutout of its cartoon mascot after a viral TikTok video called it a “blackface owner.”Bo’s Bagels on West 116th Street displayed a larger-than-life cutout of a sunglasses-wearing bagel to advertise the spot’s fresh goods – until threats and harassment from the viral video forced the sign off the sidewalk and into hiding, owner Andrew Martinez told The Post. “It got completely out of hand by a bunch of people who know nothing about us.And the rage was coming in from people who just wanted to call us racist,” said Martinez, a born-and-bred New Yorker who’s lived in Harlem for nearly 20 yearsThe life-sized cutout — which doubled as a chalkboard sign — featured the cartoon bagel flashing golden grills that read “Harlem World” and rocking a huge golden ring emblazoned with “NYC.” The bagel mascot was designed by Harlem-based artist Tom Sanford, whose work includes life-sized caricatures of the New York Knicks that were displayed in City Hall in June during the team’s championship-winning run.The backlash to the bagel mascot began when Harlem-based photographer Carl Broady blasted the cartoon as a “disrespectful caricature of black people” in an Instagram post last Monday. “The sign’s exaggerated features, bulging lips and teeth, and darkened skin tone […] recall the racist caricatures historically used to degrade Black people,” said Broady, who is black.But it exploded when TikToker “Anastazia X” visited the bagel joint — and declared the sign a “blackface bagel” while decrying it as “problematic.”“It’s not funny,” the TikToker — who has 4,000 followers — said in a Saturday video, adding that other art in the shop “was a little askew.”Anastasia X also proclaimed the shop was “white owned” while flashing a photo of Martinez, and insisted she’d been “left on read” when she sent him a message criticizing the mascot.�...