Cheesecake Factory Designer Shrugs Off Obama's Trump Decor Jab as White House Fuels Class Fight
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 28
Cheesecake Factory Designer Shrugs Off Obama's Trump Decor Jab as White House Fuels Class Fight
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 28
Summary
Rick McCormack, the designer behind Cheesecake Factory’s signature look, said he was neither angry nor hurt after Barack Obama likened Donald Trump’s Oval Office decor to “Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
Saturday’s rally remark quickly drew a White House response accusing Obama of elitism, turning the comparison into a broader online clash over taste, class and political symbolism.
McCormack said the uproar felt silly and argued the country had bigger issues, even as his chain’s murals, columns and amber lighting became an unexpected proxy in the culture wars.
The episode adds Cheesecake Factory to a list of consumer brands whose aesthetics have been pulled into partisan debates far beyond their original design intent.