Twist after Aussie ‘cancelled’ for selling sushi

A TikToker has revealed an update on a Aussie woman’s sushi restaurant after she was bullied and called a “coloniser” online.

An Aussie who became the target of an online bullying campaign after she opened a sushi restaurant in New York City has enjoyed a boom in business, with a telling sign placed outside her store window.

Alex Mark was labelled a “coloniser” and accused of “cultural appropriation” by US chef Eric Rivera after she quit her job as a corporate lawyer to open the Sushi Counter and sell ‘Australian-style’ sushi earlier this month.

“But it’s ‘stralian sushi. Give me a break coloniser,” Mr Rivera wrote on social media. “If you don’t see why this is a problem, you are the problem.”

While many blasted Ms Marks online in an attempt to have her cancelled, others including TikToker Jack Mac came to the Aussie’s defence in a video seen by 3.2 million people.

Ms Marks was subjected to online bullying for selling ‘Aussie sushi’. Picture: Instagram

Sushi Counter opened in the West Village a few weeks ago. Picture: Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

Now, in a fortunate twist, Mr Mac has revealed when he later visited the restaurant to show his support, he discovered all the sushi had sold out.

“Guys so obviously I went to the sushi shop,” he told his over 600,000 followers in a video last week.

“I got here [and it’s] sold out for tonight,” he said, as he pointed the camera towards a closed sign in the window of the restaurant.

TikToker Jack Mac revealed Ms Marks had sold out of sushi when he visited the store. Picture: TikTok@jackmacbarstool

He joked he helped the store sell out of all its food. Picture: TikTok@jackmacbarstool

In his prior video, Mr Mac pointed out that the internet tried to cancel Ms Marks “because they deemed her opening a sushi restaurant is cultural appropriation”.

“Thankfully our society has slowly woken up to buzzwords like that, often being nonsense, [and] it failed,” he said.

In the recent update, Mr Mac joked that he played a role in selling out the restaurant.

“You know how many people are selling out a sushi restaurant in New York City? You know who did that? Jack Mac did. We did that.”

A wave of support

Others have taken to social media to show their support to Ms Marks, whose restaurant now boasts a 4.2 star Google rating.

In one TikTok video, a foodie by the username ‘legendary.eatz’ said the bullying of Ms Marks was “despicable” and pointed out the hypocrisy of Mr Rivera’s plans to open a fusion Puerto Rican Izakaya restaurant.

“Izakaya in Japanese. He is Puerto Rican,” he said.

Chef and TV personality Marc Murphy also showed his support by visiting the store and encouraging others to try the food.

“It’s hard enough making money in the restaurant business, let’s not pick on each other, let’s just be nice to each other,” he said on TikTok.

TV personality Marc Murphy visited the store in a show of support. Picture: TikTok@chefmarcmurphy

Others also came to Ms Marks defence and pointed out the hypocrisy of Mr Rivera’s comments. Picture: TikTok@chefmarcmurphy

Conservative US political commentator Matt Walsh also spoke out in defence of Ms Marks on the Daily Wire.

“As a sane person myself I can’t fathom how anyone could conjure those kinds of emotions in relation to a sushi restaurant,” Mr Walsh said.

“The first and most obvious thing is that this deranged standard is only ever applied to white people and would never – and has never – gone the other way.

“You’ll never hear of a pizza place being bombarded with negative reviews because it’s owned by an Asian guy. Or a burger joint being protested because it’s run by a Hispanic woman.

“You’ll certainly never hear anyone telling a black chef what sorts of cuisine he isn’t allowed to cook based on his race.”