Manjit Minhas, a prominent investor on the reality show Dragons' Den, says she's withdrawing her offer to invest in a Canadian bubble tea company following backlash over cultural appropriation. The company has also since issued an apology.

A recent episode of Dragons' Den sparked public outcry after Boba co-owners Sebastien Fiset and Jessica Frenette appeared on the show intending to "disturb" the bubble tea market with a bottled version of the drink.

Frenette described bubble tea as "that trendy sugary drink that you queue up for, and you are never quite sure about its content."

Canadian actor Simu Liu expressed concern over the "idea of disrupting or disturbing bubble tea," to which Minhas argued that "there can be a new take on things."

@cbcgem This bottled bubble tea business pitches to celebrity Dragon Simu Liu and the rest of the Dragons (📺: Dragons' Den) #dragonsden #simuliu ♬ original sound - CBC Gem

The business partners went with Minhas, who offered to invest $1 million in the company, but Liu opted out, stating, "I want to be part of bringing boba to the masses, but not like this."

The episode sparked outrage, with the business owners now on the receiving end of online harassment and death threats.

Liu shared a video in which he shared his thoughts on the incident and urged people to stop bullying and harassing the business owners.

"Let's disagree with each other. Let's critique each other. Let's critique this idea of cultural appropriation," he said. "Let's talk about it. But you know, what we're not going to do is threaten people's physical safety and make people feel unsafe and cause them trauma that, quite honestly, they don't deserve."

Minhas followed suit with a short video announcing that she was withdrawing her investment from the Quebec-based company.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Manjit Minhas (@manjit.minhas)

"After more reflection, due diligence and listening to many of your opinions, I will not be investing in Bobba Tea," she said in a clip shared on Instagram on Sunday. "Having said that, I had to turn off commenting on my platforms because it is never okay to send hate and death threats to the entrepreneurs."

She added that she still believes that "cultures are meant to be shared."
Fiset and Frenette also shared a lengthy statement apologizing for the incident and explaining that their intent "wasn't communicated effectively in the episode as English is our second language."

"When we said, 'You're never quite sure about its contents,' we were not referring to the traditional bubble tea formula found in specialized shops, nor were we criticizing it," reads the statement shared on Instagram. "What we were comparing it to is the other ready-to-drink products like ours found in big box stores."

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by BOBBA (@bobbaofficiel)

The partners also said they never intended to disrespect the "community that created and popularized this beloved drink."

Fiset and Frenette also stated that they plan to work with their Taiwanese partners to give credit to the drink's cultural roots and re-evaluate their branding, packaging, and marketing strategies.

"This has been a valuable learning experience for us all, and we understand people's negative reactions," they stated. "We truly hope that people give us a chance to set things right and show you that we can do better."

Their apology was met with sharp criticism, with one person stating, "Many of us speak multiple languages, so stop pretending like you don't know how you sounded saying any of that."

Another added, "They went on and bashed the whole boba world by saying they made it better. Then, when Simu was speaking, she rolled her eyes at him. This is a quick way to lose all Asian support."

Similarly, viewers were not thrilled with Minhas' apology.

"The mistake wasn't just the investment; it was that you shut him down when he was educating you. You gaslit him and did it with a smirk," wrote one commenter.

Someone else added, "Not only did you simply not apologize for how you completely dismissed Simu's concerns when he raised them, you did not even acknowledge where you went wrong in this video. The only reason why you've backed out of the investment now is because you're seeing how much backlash it's getting."