South of the Wall slammed by diners, Latin American community for ‘racist’ mural

A MEXICAN eatery part-owned by Richmond star Josh Caddy has been slammed over its “cruel” and “disgusting” mural of Donald Trump, which has divided Melbourne diners and upset members of the Latin American community.

Josh Caddy poses with the mural. Picture: Instagram

A MURAL of US president Donald Trump leering over a wall at Mexican beach revellers has divided Melbourne diners and upset members of the Latin American community.

Shocked patrons of Cremorne Mexican restaurant South of the Wall, part-owned by Richmond’s Josh Caddy, took to social media to express outrage at the artwork.

But the owners insisted people were “looking to be offended by something” and that their tequila representatives and chefs were not upset.

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Mexican restaurant South of the Wall is part-owned by Richmond star Josh Caddy (left). Picture: Instagram

Member of the Melbourne Latin American community and The Hispanic Society of Victoria Elvira De Rose, 70, said the mural was in bad taste and did not accurately represent Mexico.

“It’s a bit cruel and disgusting,” she said. “It’s not nice.”

The Mount Waverley woman said she wanted to see the large artwork replaced.

“There’s not a Mexican hat there, there’s no mariachi group there — nothing that I can see as Mexican there,” she said. “I would like to see something authentic there.”

Members of the public expressed dismay, saying the situation at the US border was too serious to joke about.

“People who have lived in the US for nearly their entire lives are in constant fear of deportation, and you think this is the sort of thing you can joke about to the point of making a bar?” Tim Fraser asked.

The offending Trump mural. Picture: Facebook

“This is some racist s---, laughing at people’s lived reality and mocking the fact that Trump is keeping POC (people of colour) out of the country,” Allie Jackson wrote.

“You don’t get to tell actual Latinos how to feel about this because you are white and privileged and are not facing oppression,” Carolina De La Piedra commented.

But South of the Wall co-owner and manager Nathan Box, 27, insisted the venue had taken reasonable steps to ensure no one was offended.

“We have three Mexican guys in the kitchen and we took every one of them out by themselves and asked them what they thought about it,” he said.

“We asked the boys … just to make sure we weren’t offending people.”

He said they had also asked Mexican friends and “reps from the tequila companies”.

Mr Box said the intention of the venue and the mural was to highlight the best bits of Mexico and that the offended commenters did not understand their intent.

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“A lot of them were well-off, well-educated, hipster, university-types who hadn’t quite grasped the concept of what we were trying to say,” he said.

“They were missing the fact that we were trying to celebrate the culture.

“They were very much people who were looking to be offended by something.”

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