"As owner and manager, I take full responsibility. I saw the 'gift' and I didn’t stop it. In fact, in a lapse of judgement, I also joined our employees in signing it. While I thought it was an innocent inside joke between employees who are friends, as the owner I should have recognized the inadvertent message, stepped in and stopped this behavior," Hearit wrote in the statement. 

"I want to thank the members of the community who have called out these incredibly insensitive actions. They do not reflect the values of our staff or the owners. We are committed to using this incredibly huge mistake as an opportunity to learn and grow. That is why all current staff members at Darb’s, myself included, will be undergoing mandatory diversity and sensitivity training," he added.