Bar worker fired for domestic violence joke sign

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A Texas bar owner said he fired a worker who put out a sign that used domestic violence as a joke to promote beer.

Alex Elmiger, owner of the Minibar in Austin, said he was not present when the worker put out the sign, which went viral online after a woman who works at the Austin Women's Shelter took a picture and posted it to social networking site Instagram, KEYE-TV, Austin, reported Thursday.

"I like my beer like I like my violence -- Domestic," the sign read.

"To be honest with you I wasn't aware of it. I was enjoying the ACL festival and the next morning I received a bunch of phone calls about it," Elmiger said. "As soon as I found out I decided to take the sign down immediately obviously."

Elmiger said he fired the employee and decided to use the opportunity to support October's Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

"I decided to donate a dollar from every beer that I sell, every domestic beer that I sell, hopefully trying to spur to have more people have awareness of the fact it is Domestic Violence Awareness Month to put a positive spin behind it," he said.