John Oliver Planning to Give Kingston, NY Bakery New Equipment But There’s a Catch

Red Lobster has closed 80 + locations across the US with more closures on the way after filing for Chapter 11.

2 Hudson Valley locations were on the chopping block after the initial announcement. The Kingston New York (or Town of Ulster) location has been in the spotlight thanks to talk show host John Oliver.

Now it looks like Oliver is going to help out another Kingston, New York business after a little social media scuffle.

Ulster County Red Lobster Gets Recreated on Talk Show Set

On the June 2nd episode of Last Week Tonight on HBO, John Oliver dedicated a segment to Red Lobster's bankruptcy announcement. In doing so he said anyone could run a Red Lobster, and then proceeded to purchase all the equipment from the Red Lobster on Miron Lane in Kingston, New York at auction.

You can watch the segment below:

The Hollywood Reporter explains that the equipment Oliver won at auction caught the eye of Eric Deising, owner of Deising's Bakery, and he was a little upset that the talk show host swooped in and took everything from the Red Lobster.

They write, "He taped a note to the front door of the Red Lobster asking if he could buy some of the equipment."

News 12 Westchester reports that there was a little back and forth between Deising and Oliver, but it had a happy ending.

John Oliver To Give Deising's Bakery New Restaurant Equipment

According to The Hollywood Reporter, John Oliver is going to give Deising's Bakery and Restaurant brand-new restaurant equipment. The article explains that the Last Week Tonight crew dissembled the fake Red Lobster set and donated the equipment to local charities in New York City.

So it's not the original equipment Deising said to have bid on.

However, Oliver had seen Deising's comments and purchased equipment to gift them...but there's a catch.

Oliver saw all of the amazing reviews of Deising's and decided to call a truce. He said they were willing to buy the items Deising's needed on one condition "All I want in return is a baked good with my face on it on sale in your bakery, specifically a cake bear with my face on it. I wanna be a cake bear."

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These are the only bears I could currently find on the Deising's Facebook page. Now I'm envisioning John Oliver's face on them and can't unsee it:

Of course, the team at Deising's accepted the challenge graciously and plans to give back to a great cause:

Pete Deising, nephew of owner Eric, told us "We didn’t see this coming and are extremely grateful. The least we could do is do something to give back to the local community by donating all proceeds of the John Oliver bear cupcakes to people’s place (while supplies last)."

We'll be sure to update the story once the John Oliver Cake Bears go live.

What Should Replace New York Red Lobster Locations?

Now that Red Lobster in Kingston is empty (thanks, John Oliver!) and the Poughkeepsie location is closed, what should replace them? Maybe a local seafood restaurant?

Or another chain like Chick-fil-A?

Maybe the Cheez-In Diner can return and call an old Red Lobster location home?

While we're on the topic of big chain restaurants closing their doors. Remember Pizza Hut? There are only a few left in the region, but I wouldn't mind bringing them back...and BOOK IT!