Canadian sandwich chain removes ‘Bill Cosby’ sandwich from menu

Since allegations of sexual assault began cropping up en masse against Bill Cosby in November 2014, the now-embattled comedian has seen detractors go after everything from his good name to his ongoing tour, which he says is "far from finished." Now, though, they're going after his sandwiches.

Canadian sandwich chain Shopsy's Deli recently dropped their "Bill Cosby" sandwich — a $15 corned beef, pastrami and Swiss cheese amalgamation on rye — from their menu, preferring instead now to call it the "Home Run." Prior to the name change, the "Bill Cosby" had lorded over Shopsy's menu for some eight years.

Via the Toronto Sun:

The corned beef sandwich had been named after the embattled comedian for several years before the current owners bought the restaurants, said Gavin Quinn, president of the Irish Embassy Group.

The company bought Shopsy's around eight years ago with the sandwich already on the menu.

"I don't even think people really associate it with the celebrity," Quinn said. "They know it more as a food item."

Now, with the sexual assault allegations against Cosby being so prevalent, Quinn says that Shopsy's felt "it was prudent to rename it." However, that doesn't go for every restaurant owner, everywhere.

Consider, for example, the "Bill Cosby" sandwich of West Palm Beach's Makeb's Deli. At its core, it is a layered sandwich of turkey breast, ham, onion, tomato and lettuce on white bread for just $6.95, and it likely isn't going anywhere. Menus, after all, are expensive.

The Palm Beach Post explains:

And, for reasons that have nothing to do with the entertainer who is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting more than two dozen women, the Bill Cosby Sandwich will stay on the menu.

For now at least, says Makeb's co-owner Diego Villamil.

Villamil, a Colombian immigrant who owns and operates Makeb's two West Palm locations with two brothers, says he ordered brand-new menus just before the scandal reached its current, widespread intensity. (Cosby has denied the accusations.)

"I can't just throw those menus away now. They are expensive to print and we're a small business," he told The Post Tuesday. "Besides, a sandwich is a sandwich – it has nothing to do with that guy's problems."

Closer to home, it would appear that Washington Deli and Pizza in Washington, D.C. agrees with the above sentiment. On their specialty sandwich menu, the "Bill Cosby" is less a sandwich and more an imitation of a Philadelphia institution:

Bill Cosby — The classic Philadelphia Cheese steak. Choice rib eye steak with melted provolone cheese served on a hero roll with grilled mushrooms, onions, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. — $6.95 

Oddly, though, none of these offerings are a hoagie, which technically is the food item for which Cosby's Cliff Huxtable is known on The Cosby Show. To illustrate, in episode 608, he actually gives birth to one:

With that in mind, however, maybe we should take into account the words of Makeb's owner Villamil, who urges that "If the food is good, that's all that matters. One thing has nothing to do with the other."

Shopsy's, it seems, would agree with that sentiment to some degree: The store currently is changing over to a more sports-themed style, hence the "Home Run" moniker for the ex-Cosby sandwich.