BuzzFeed is trying to clean up a mess that should never have happened.

The digital outlet and its food vertical Tasty have issued a public apology to Love Island USA contestant Michelle “Chelley” Bissainthe after a July Instagram post sparked outrage. The since-deleted post listed each season seven contestant alongside what Tasty claimed it would make them for breakfast; a nod to the show’s tradition of filming islanders’ morning meals. But for Bissainthe, one of the main Black female contestants, the caption read “a bowl of fruit, Goldfish, and a knuckle sandwich.”

Fans immediately called the remark disturbing and racially loaded, questioning why a brand would joke about physical violence toward a Black woman on national TV. Bissainthe’s social media team quickly condemned the post in an Instagram Story, calling it “disturbing, disgusting, and unacceptable” and pointing out how “implicit biases can be rooted in antiblackness, misogyny, prejudice, violence, etc.”

Tasty deleted the post after the backlash, but on Aug. 14, BuzzFeed went further, publishing a formal apology authored by two Black staffers. In typical BuzzFeed fashion, it was framed as a listicle — “11 Steps for Addressing Offensive Behavior in the Workplace” — but the tone was more sobering than snarky. The post acknowledged that the “mistake deeply hurt members of the Black community, both internally and in our audience” and aimed to use the incident as a case study for companies to follow when they fall short.

The steps ranged from listening to affected audiences and employees to committing to covering Black people in a positive light and fostering inclusive spaces. Some employees, quoted anonymously, spoke candidly about the hurt caused. “Darker skin is automatically seen as aggressive,” one Black woman at the company shared. Another admitted, “My trust in my company has faltered, and my safe haven now has a crack.”