TV Chicago pizza chain calls out Emily in Paris over joke slamming its deep-dish Chicago chain Lou Malnati's said a joke in Emily in Paris making fun of its pizza was "heartless ... in the midst of COVID-19." By Rachel Yang Rachel Yang Rachel Yang is a former digital news writer at Entertainment Weekly. She left EW in 2021. EW's editorial guidelines Published on October 7, 2020 09:23PM EDT Somewhere out there, Giordano's media team is cackling right now. Netflix's buzzy new show Emily in Paris made a cheesy joke at the expense of Lou Malnati's, one of Chicago's most famous pizza chains, and the brand is having none of it. "We've been serving Chicago's favorite Deep Dish since 1971. When Netflix’ Emily in Paris writers chose to take a shot at Chicagoans and our pizza to try to get a laugh, it felt heartless and not humorous in the midst of Covid-19,” said Marc Malnati in a press release titled "Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria Is Not A Fan of New Netflix Series 'Emily In Paris.'" Netflix The series features Lily Collins as the titular heroine who moves to Paris from Chicago to pursue her dream job. In the first episode, Emily's fancy new French acquaintances (played by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu and Arnaud Viard) remark that when they tried deep dish pizza in Chicago it was "disgusting" and "like a quiche made of cement." To that, Emily responds, "Oh, no, you must have gone to Lou Malnati's." The conversation then turns to Americans being fat. "It feels especially unkind to disparage anyone during these difficult times, given that most restaurants are struggling to hang on," the chain's press release added. EW has reached out to representatives for the show for further comment. Cultural digs are found all over the rom-com series, and creator Darren Star spoke to EW about why he wanted to poke fun of both American and French society. "Stereotypes exist for a reason; there’s a little bit of truth to them. I wanted to have fun pointing out cultural differences," he said. "The wonderful thing about travel is experiencing those. I wanted to portray this character going into a world of enriching moments, and it's a comedy so obviously, we wanted to heighten them in a good-humored way. We get digs in on the other side too." Emily in Paris premiered Oct. 2 and also stars Ashley Park, Lucas Bravo, Camille Razat, and Kate Walsh. Related content: The cast of Emily in Paris takes us through the Netflix rom-com from A-Z Darren Star and Lily Collins take us inside their new rom-com series, Emily in Paris Emily in Paris trailer brings Lily Collins to the chic city of love