Hard French, El Rio's award-winning afternoon queer dance party in the Mission District, turned soft over the weekend after several of its Facebook followers (i.e., commenters) took offense to their naming their Cinco de Mayo's party "Pico de Gallo." Some daytime disco fans thought the salsa-themed title was a touch racist. For whatever reasons. Furthermore, club promoters (quite cleverly) encouraged revelers to come dressed as their favorite Pico de Gallo ingredient — e.g., tomatoes, red onion, jalapenos, garlic, etc. Intended to mock the drunk, white frat boys and brogrammers who party in the Mission wearing sombreros on May 5th, some Hard French fans took umbrage and found the entire bit culturally insensitive. Some were angered yet begged for more "dialogue". Some simply didn't care. Either way it made for interesting commentary and fist-shaking that only voices on the interwebs can muster. A few choice Facebook moments:

• "Whitey, like others I know has left living in the 510 area 3 times, back to SF, a bit more distant from righteous rainbow coalition warriors + their champion of the "POC" talking stick of the more down than you! Enlightened youth brandishing...bollocky bastards, enjoying the Hard French vibes a few blocks away from my totally gentrified, lily-white Mission hipster douche bag pad a few blocks from El Rio." -- Tess Thomasjhagemann Jr.

• "It does not matter how many anti-racist meetings you've gone to or if you choose not to wear a sombrero for cinco de mayo... to me being white is racist. After acknowledging your racists existence work from there and attempt to de construct it but always keeping in mind you are a person whit the potential to be racist as fuck." — Ana. Bel

• "This is some racist bullshit." — [name redacted]

• "Hey y'all, can you change the theme to something that's not as problematic pico de gallo? You know, I kinda feel pretty awkward and all having my culture and heritage reduced to foodways. It's not like this shit doesn't happen all the time or anything." — Mari Miau

• ‎"The event page has become a place for hella white dudes refusing to acknowledge the experiences of the POC who have taken issue with this by mocking their 'sensitivity,' calling them reverse racists, and telling them to worry about things that are 'actually racist.' I think many of those comments have since gotten deleted but it has been such a bummer to realize the reality of one of the most (allegedly) 'radical' cities in the u.s. having a queer community filled with so many HRC gays and people who are so unabashedly racist. But what can you really expect from a party filled with white people appropriating music by black people for their own pleasure in one of San Francisco’s most gentrified neighborhoods. i guess what i’m trying to say is, white people, stay scared of oakland and move away/never move here cause we don’t need U." — Brandon Owens

• "Hey we got some über PC 'Radicals' up here too, the kind who like policing, shaming, bullying, attacking, dividing and assuming they hold the ability to speak on behalf of the entire Queer community, maybe we can get ours and yours together for a dance off?! When did our community get like this? When did it become cool/hip to get a degree in politics and use it against your own? When did it become ok to hold such dialogue via Facebook? Worrying about language at a queer dance party and the themes it uses is all very FIRST WORLD problems and usually those complaining are white privilege brats using their degrees and schooling to show they have a bigger dick! Piss off already none of this classy kids would have survived the '70s, '80s or '90s of queercore, homocult, Sissy Nation, Act Up, Stonewall or the aids epidemic!" — Airick Redwolf

• "Something tells me that Kris Jenner had something to do with this publicity stunt." — Brian Agard

• "Dialogue about racism, privilege and appropriating need to continue to happen on an open level within our queer communities. Although I am not a fan of infighting and the attacking comments that have happened throughout this discussion, I think that some very important issues are being raised. I hope that we as organizers and promoters of queer events in San Francisco can take this opportunity to create larger dialogue about what we are accountable for. Criticism is hard to take but is an important part of staying accountable to our communities. I hope we can organize a community meeting to discuss this face to face as it would be wonderful to have the opportunity to show our love and respect for one another and really address these important issues." — Danielle Jackson

• "You left out lime out of your ingredients list, which is the real crime here. Also, boycott Lime, they're the real enemy." — Walter Gómez

• "I don't have too specific of an opinion about the current heated discussion, especially because I do accept that I am excluded from a lot of the potential cross-fire by being born a white person, as well as not coming from a particularly poor family. However, I do want to say that although Hard French is mostly white, it is one of the only parties in the Bay Area that I do consistently see a decent amount of diversity." — Sam Kehl

• "I grew up in the south. You want to see and feel racism? Come with me to Polk County. You'll want to vomit. I found nothing racist in the description of the party. Good lord, San Francisco. Lighten the fuck up." — Rikki Jean Jensen

• "San Francisco, you are a legit parody of yourself." — Ryan O'Connell

• "I want to encourage folks especially other white people to check themselves on the snark factor in responding to people's concerns over this theme. Though not everyone feels that this theme is racist it doesn't excuse people saying hella racist and classist things in defense of the HF crew and party. Please don't mock or invalidate POC feelings and concerns about this issue." -- Caitlin Rose

• "So wait, I can't dressed as a tomato anymore?" — Diego Galvan

And it just goes on and on... and on. Hard French attempted to squelch the criticism by changing the name of the party to Fruit Salad, which seemed to work. (Saturday's fete was a resounding success.) Hard French responded to the mild-to-spicy controversy thusly:

We've always wanted Hard French to unite, not divide. We acknowledge and apologize for the fact that the context in which we were attempting to create a retreat from the normal Cinco De Mayo festivities was considered offensive to some people. Our intent with the theme of this month's Hard French was to create a space that was positive, free of culturally insensitive dress and behavior and therefore welcoming to all who would want to attend.

The words and tone used to discuss our party and our theme have reached a point where people, no matter where they stand on the issue, have had their feelings hurt. We believe that the issues being raised are very valid but we also feel that our Facebook event wall is not the best forum to have a critical dialogue. We want this dialogue to continue but in the interest of moving forward, we believe this dialogue would be best addressed face-to-face.

That said Hard French believes food is delicious and fruit is our favorite. So Hard French implores you to please get in touch with your inner fruit and channel IT instead of pico de gallo ingredients this month.

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