WASHINGTON (DC News Now) -- Fast-casual pizza chain &pizza outlined steps it is taking to apologize for last week's "Marion Berry Knot" marketing campaign, which made light of former Mayor Marion Barry, who was at the center of a crack cocaine scandal in the '90s. The chain announced the new dessert through a series of ads that included drug references and innuendos, such as staging the knots with mountains of powdered sugar that looked like cocaine. Marion Barry’s wife calls ‘Marion Berry Knots’ at &pizza ‘racist and disrespectful’ The late mayor's wife Cora Masters Barry called the item "racist and disrespectful." Leaders and activists called for a boycott of the chain and one of its locations right off Marion Barry Avenue SE was vandalized. Days after the new dessert hit &pizza's menus, CEO Mike Burns announced they would be pulling the knots from the menu and apologized for the campaign. In a follow-up statement just over a week later, &pizza publicly apologized to Masters Barry "and to those we let down." "The '&' symbol represents unity, connection and inclusiveness. ... Last week's marketing campaign went against these values which we have worked very hard to build," the company stated, in part. &pizza pulls ‘Marion Berry Knots’ from menu after backlash from DC community &pizza leaders said they met with The Knot in DC Coalition - who led the boycott against the chain last week - to discuss a range of initiatives and address the concerns of the community. Some of &pizza's commitments include: Establishing partnerships with minority-owned businesses across D.C., with the provision of resources that are critical in helping such businesses grow Dollars and resources earmarked for creating an internship program for local high school and HBCU students to intern at &pizza Help develop programs that invest in underserved communities Diversity training with a commitment to cultural awareness programs Contributions to racial justice and systemic inequality organizations deeply rooted in the community "Again, we deeply apologize to the DC community and will work hard to earn your trust back each and every day. We must do better, and we will," the company's statement concluded. Full statement released by &pizza on Oct. 31. (Courtesy of &pizza via X/@andpizza)