foodconsumer.org: Internet blogs spawn KFC riot rumor, AP says rumors are false

Internet blogs spawn KFC riot rumor, AP says rumors are false
================================================================================
admin on 05/09/2009 13:33:00
 
Saturday May 9, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) --  Various internet websites spawned a
rumor that customers at a New York City Kentucky Fried Chicken started a
'60's-style riot, the Associated Press reports.  A KFC spokeswoman has denied
any allegations of a riot or protest but said some customers were "upset" when
the restaurant ran out of chicken for a promotional sandwich.
The supposed riot was reported to be a response to the restaurant’s refusal to
honor a coupon for a free sandwich that is part of a promotion sponsored by talk
show host Oprah Winfrey.
Winfrey is offering free coupons for the restaurant's new Kentucky Grilled
Chicken sandwich which is advertised to be lower in fat, calories and sodium
than the original recipe.  AP reports that “a spokeswoman for Oprah’s Harpo
Productions in Chicago said they are not aware of any problems with the
coupons."
Laurie Schalow, a KFC spokeswoman, responded that “some customers were upset
because they couldn’t get their chicken, but there was no riot.”  She
explained that “[KFC] didn’t prepare for [demand to be] this extreme.”
An editorial at popwatch.ew.com, a section of Entertainment Weekly’s site, by
Christine Spines, claimed that “a hungry mob of New Yorkers (the millennial
generations’ version of an angry mob) staged a ‘60s-style sit in at a
Manhattan KFC restaurant.”  The editorial provided a link to an article on the
website gothamist.com as corroboration, which in turn provided a link to a
semi-satirical article on New York Magazine’s website that highlights some of
the “most heart-wrenching of the comments” on the site that users can use to
redeem the coupon. The New York Magazine article does not mention a riot.
The gothamist.com article, by John Del Signore, cites an un-sourced “harrowing
report” that describes a sit-in scene laced with racial epithets.  Though,
excerpts such as “we can only assume a riot squad is currently cracking skulls
to save that last defenseless grilled chicken from the freeloading mob” make
it obvious that the article is satirical in nature. The article can be found at 
http://gothamist.com/2009/05/06/kfcs_denial_of_grilled_chicken_give.php.
The Entertainment Weekly editorial also drips with satire.  The author opines
that “[she] can’t help but see this kerfuffle as evidence of either the
beginning of the end of all that’s good in the world or (pause for a sip of
Obama-flavored Kool Aid) the return of the power-to-the-people engagement.”
(By Will Levine)