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After scolding the members of the media for their coverage of the Trump inauguration, White House press secretary Sean Spicer quickly wrapped up his first-ever press briefing on Saturday without taking any questions from the crowd. With this surprising move, he was denying the journalists of America the opportunity to ask him about one of Washington’s biggest unsolved mysteries: Why does Spicer hate Dippin’ Dots so darn much? As the A.V. Club notes, the former RNC communications director’s baffling rivalry with the little orbs of ice cream dates back to 2010, when he tweeted this:
Dippin dots is NOT the ice cream of the future
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) April 8, 2010
Spicer was referencing the retro-Space Age food product’s marketing slogan in his tweet, but he did not elaborate on why he believed that these little pearls of ice cream — a staple at stadiums, amusement parks, and movie theaters — failed to represent the future of dessert. Apropos of nothing, Spicer also reiterated his opinion about the cheerful sweets 17 months later:
I think I have said this before but Dippin Dots are notthe ice cream of the future
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) September 22, 2011
And later that fall, he shared a report about Dippin’ Dots filing for bankruptcy:
Ice Cream of the Past: Dippin' Dots Files for Bankruptcy http://t.co/xPifdujD
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) November 4, 2011
But the company that produces the frozen pastel pearls managed to stay in business long enough to invoke Spicer’s wrath once more, while he was surveying concession options at Nationals Park in 2015:
If Dippin Dots was truly the ice cream of the future they would not have run out of vanilla cc @Nationals
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) September 7, 2015
To be fair, the shortage of vanilla Dippin’ Dots should be blamed squarely on the people who run the stadium, not the frozen dessert itself. But this tweet further suggests that Dippin’ Dots are some sort of emotional trigger for Spicer. Will he ever reveal the origins of his hatred for these beads of astronaut ice cream? And will the press covering the White House ever figure out how to use their knowledge of his Dippin’ Dots aversion to their advantage? Only time will tell. But here is one possible future scenario, courtesy of Culture Trip’s Chris Mahoney:
SEAN SPICER: And so for today's briefing-
— Chris Mohney (@chrismohney) January 22, 2017
PRESS: [all start casually eating Dippin' Dots, staring at him]
SPICER: [starts sweating]
UPDATE 1, January 23, 2:40p.m.: The Twitter account of Dippin’ Dots has extended an olive branch to Spicer in the form of an open letter. “We’ve seen your tweets and would like to be friends rather than foes,” it reads in part. “After all, we believe in connecting the dots.” The brand then offers to show up at the White House to feed both staffers and the press corps with an ice cream social.
@seanspicer, let's connect the dots! We hope you and the @WhiteHouse take us up on our ice cream social invite https://t.co/kmg5cNqpFe
— Dippin' Dots (@DippinDots) January 23, 2017
UPDATE 2, January 23, 11:14 p.m:: Spicer replies to his foe, Dippin’ Dots, with a peaceful pitch for them:
Sorry for the delay How about we do something great for the those who have served out nation & 1st responders https://t.co/G9BPmVAXKS
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 24, 2017
• Trump’s press secretary has been fighting with Dippin’ Dots for 5 years [AV Club]
• @seanspicer [Twitter]
• All Coverage of Dippin’ Dots [E]