If you spend any time Downtown, you’ve likely heard about Beauty Bar’s sidewalk chalkboard that rattled the scene earlier this month. On April 14, a photo of the sign reading, “I like my beer like I like my violence: domestic,” made the rounds, and community members levied hundreds of complaints on social media. It sparked so much controversy that touring band Shannon and the Clams moved its May 11 show to Backstage Bar & Billiards.

Since Darin Feinstein and Corey Harrison bought Beauty Bar in June 2014, several incidents have riled the Downtown community. Not long after they took over, Feinstein was in the news for allegedly harassing a female customer. After he filed a defamation lawsuit against her, then dropped it once they’d settled, misgivings about the bar seemed to subside—until it promoted, then quickly canceled, a party called “Welfare Wednesdays.” When reached for comment about this latest backlash, Marlene Richter, executive director of the Shade Tree shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic abuse, said there’s an upside. “The dialogue that came out of it is what I think the positive beginning is. ... We have to say this is not okay. Domestic violence is not okay. Being comical about it is not okay. Clearly it wasn’t okay for the bar either, because as soon as the manager saw it the manager took it down.”

Beauty Bar apologized on Facebook, stating that the employee who wrote the message was suspended, and that “Beauty Bar has been a longtime supporter of local and national anti-domestic violence charities and in no way supported this message.”

Richter said the bar contacted Shade Tree about holding a benefit following the blunder, but the shelter said the timing wasn’t right. “The owner of the bar has been, without fanfare, supporting the shelter for years. [Feinstein] provides money; he brought his artists in and painted the courtyards … [he] has brought in his own staff to volunteer.” And while the sandwich-board “joke” was tasteless and offensive, Richter hopes it continues a greater conversation. “The response from our community is, I think, a really good sign that they’re not going to be bystanders. I think that they should continue the dialogue, always.”