‘Build That Wall’ cookie caused uproar, baker says support more powerful

It was the dessert heard ’round the world — a Valentine’s heart cookie with the words, “Build That Wall.” The photo of the cookie went viral online after a customer spotted it at the Edmonds Bakery.

But bakery owner Ken Bellingham said that the entire event began as a joke with his daughter-in-law — and that he cannot believe the level of anger directed toward him on the internet.

“This is really a crazy world we live in now,” Bellingham said. “This one incident has caused all this activity … This was taken way too seriously.”

RELATED: Dori | The left goes nuts over a cookie in latest social media freak-out 

Bellingham typically puts somewhat provocative, risque messages on cookies just to have a laugh with his customers. These cookies tend to be great sellers, he added.

“I have a sense of humor; I think it’s funny,” Bellingham said. “I think we all should laugh once in a while.”

Bellingham’s daughter-in-law, who was at the bakery at the time he created the famous cookie, has conservative views that he does not share. As a joke for her when she was taking photos of the desserts, he wrote, “Build That Wall” on one of the Valentine’s Day cookies he was decorating.

The cookie ended up getting put out in the case — and the rest is social media history.

“I’ll stick to bakeries that don’t promote hate,” one reviewer wrote on Facebook. “As a Californian pastry chef … you disgrace us all. Disgusting.”

“You made a cookie that openly mocks refugees. You deserve to be shut down,” wrote another reviewer, who said that the heart-shaped cookie is meant to “terrorize Latin Americans.”

Bellingham is hurt that people would presume to know what is in his heart, and to make a stark judgment about his entire character on the basis of a frosted cookie — especially since he has not in the past been an active supporter of a border wall.

“Why do they have to destroy me for what they assume is my [belief]? I’m a racist? They don’t know me. They don’t know anything about me,” Bellingham said. “But they just take that [cookie] as proof.”

He made a public apology, but said that people quickly dismissed it, comparing him to the proverbial thief who is sorry he got caught, rather than being sorry he stole.

“This has changed me. I’m angry at how I’m being treated — I just think it’s totally unfair,” Bellingham said. “I apologized, but my apology was rejected for being insincere.”

Ironically, Bellingham has a much clearer idea than many people do of the hardships south of the border that make people want to seek a new life in the U.S. He spends his two vacations a year in Mexico with his church volunteering at an orphanage.

“I know firsthand how people are struggling down there,” he said. “This is a place where children come who are abandoned and are orphaned, their parents just leave them on the street … [at the orphanage], they’re cared for, they’re loved, they’re fed.”

There have been some positives to come out of the cookie nightmare. Many people have come to Bellingham wanting to place large orders of “Build That Wall” cookies. From a business perspective, it could be lucrative, he laughed.

But even bigger has been the group of people that has come forward to support a small business in distress. People have come in droves to the bakery, from as far away as Spokane. On Wednesday, the bakery sold everything in its case, which he said “has never happened before.”

“I get support from the locals, but I have so much more support now,” he said.