Kevin Aherne
Tony Lepore is a Rhode Island folk legend. At age 68, Lepore is a retired Providence Police officer, but he's much more notorious for his identity as the Dancing Cop who directs traffic in Downcity during the holiday shopping season. This week, however, Lepore's story took an interesting turn after he called for a boycott by police of Dunkin' Donuts. His call to action came following an incident at a Federal Hill Dunkin' Donuts, where an employee wrote #BlackLivesMatter on a coffee cup he prepared for a Providence Police officer. The entire story has caught national media attention, and local residents have become polarized by the issue. But people from both sides of the argument found it odd that a retired cop known more for his dance moves than his crime prevention would become so vocal in the matter. But we at WBOB have a theory as to why. Tony Lepore has been a spokesperson for Dunkin' Donuts competitor Honey Dew Donuts since 2011. It is unclear how much the Mansfield, Mass.-based retailer has paid to LePore, or whether he is currently on the Honey Dew payroll, but it is clear that LePore's anti-Dunkin sentiment is at best,a conflict of interest. Watch the Dancing Cop's Honey Dew commercial below Update: Lepore was promoting Honey Dew as recently as May 2015
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