WebProNews

Tag: KFC hoax

  • KFC Hoax: Family Insists It’s Telling the Truth

    The family of a disfigured 3-year-old Mississippi girl who alleges they were asked to leave a KFC restaurant because her appearance was scaring customers, insists the story is true despite the company’s claims that it was a hoax.

    A spokesman for KFC has said that the incident never occurred, based on a story by a local newspaper that claimed surveillance footage inside the restaurant proved they were not in the restaurant. KFC said the franchise hired a consultant to investigate the Wilcher case after being unable to verify either claim.

    However, the company said it will still honor a pledge to donate $30,000 toward the girl’s medical bills to repair her deeply scarred and partially paralyzed face.

    The family of Victoria Wilcher, who was attacked by three of her grandfather’s pit bulls in April, claim she visited a KFC in Jackson, Mississippi in May with her grandmother and was asked to leave by staff.

    According to the grandmother, Kelly Mullins, staff told her Victoria’s appearance was frightening other costumers and it would be best if they left.

    “They just told us, ‘We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,’” Mullins told WAPT-TV earlier this month. Victoria “understood exactly what they said,” Mullins said.

    “Like the rest of America, the KFC family has been moved by the story of Victoria’s injuries and recovery,” KFC spokesman Rick Maynard said in an emailed statement.

    “After the alleged incident was reported to us, two investigations took place, including one by an independent investigator. Neither revealed any evidence that the incident occurred, and we consider the investigation closed,” he said.

    An unidentified source cited by the Laurel Leader-Call newspaper in Mississippi disputed the family’s claim on Monday. The source claims the child and her grandmother do not appear on surveillance videos from two KFC locations and there are no records for the food the grandmother said she ordered.

    Since the story broke, the family has apparently received offers for free surgeries for Victoria and more than $135,000 in donations.

    The Go Fund Me fundraising website has since suspended the family’s page.

    A message posted by Victoria’s aunt on her Facebook page said the newspaper got the story wrong.

    “I promise it’s not a hoax,” the message said. “I have personally watched this family go without to provide for Victoria. They have not and would not do anything to hurt Victoria in any way.”

    Image via YouTube

  • KFC Hoax: Girl Not Kicked Out Of Restaurant

    KFC Hoax: Girl Not Kicked Out Of Restaurant

    It’s not uncommon for hoaxes to circulate on the Internet, and most of them are easy to spot. Every now and then, a really good story comes along that seems like it would just have to be true. Usually these hoaxes are the most shocking and popular and also get the most attention.

    A recent story about a little girl with a scarred face being asked to leave a KFC was proven to be a hoax. While the story seemed believable, most people who read it or heard it hoped that it wasn’t true and that the world would not be so cruel to a child.

    The story claimed that a young girl around the age of three was eating dinner in a KFC restaurant with her family. The little girl was scarred after a dog attack and allegedly had a broken jaw, nose, cheek bones and eye socket. The girl’s appearance shocked and bothered other people in the restaurant and she was asked to leave by employees.

    Perhaps the most disturbing part to the story is that it was made up by the little girl’s family members. While a young girl did undergo surgery after a dog attack and suffered from the same injuries, she did not eat at a KFC restarant the day her family had claimed. The restaurant found that there was no such girl caught on video and no receipt matching the order that the family claimed to make.

    An investigation conducted by the restaurant chain determined the story was not true.

    “After the alleged incident was reported to us, two investigations took place, including one by an independent investigator. Neither revealed any evidence that the incident occurred, and we consider the investigation closed,” KFC spokesman Rick Maynard said.

    The family’s hoax seemed to be working out to their advantage until the truth came out. The family had raised over $100,000 to pay for the girl’s medical expenses. Most of the money came from donations made by people who felt sorry for the little girl’s KFC story.

    Did you believe the story and do you think the family members who made up the hoax should be arrested or sued by KFC?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • KFC Hoax: Little Girl Was Not Kicked Out Of KFC

    The story of the three year old girl kicked out of a Jackson, MS KFC due to facial scarring that “disturbed customers” is a hoax according to Rick Maynard, spokesperson for KFC.

    “After the alleged incident was reported to us, two investigations took place, including one by an independent investigator. Neither revealed any evidence that the incident occurred, and we consider the investigation closed,” said Maynard.

    The alleged incident took place after Victoria Wilcher endured a horrific dog attack and underwent facial surgeries to repair her jaw, eye sockets, and cheekbones.

    According to her aunt, “She had a broken upper and lower jaw, broken nose, cheek bones and right eye socket.”

    On their way home from the hospital, Victoria and her grandmother Kelly Mullins stopped at KFC where she ordered mashed potatoes and sweet tea for her granddaughter. Mullins claimed they were then approached by a KFC employee and asked to leave because Victoria’s scars were scaring other customers.

    The only problem — an investigation of the receipts for the day in question reveal no such order. The surveillance footage reveals no children matching Victoria’s description.

    This came to light after the family raised over $100,000 dollars for Victoria’s medical expenses, all donations from sympathetic strangers who fell for the family’s tale of woe. Victoria’s Facebook page (now defunct) collected over 190,000 likes and KFC pledged $30,000 to aid in her reconstructive surgeries. However, during the course of all this goodwill, KFC hired an independent investigator to confirm the incident. The investigation revealed no evidence that little Victoria and Mullins were anywhere near either of the two KFC locations in Jackson that day.

    While another Facebook page for Victoria has sprung up called “Victoria’s Victories: HOAX,” demanding that donations be returned, goodwill is winning out despite the fact that Victoria’s family members turned out to be scam artists. KFC has stated they will honor their pledge of $30,000 and the Las Vegas plastic surgeon who pledged to operate on Victoria pro-bono will still be doing so. So it turns out this one is a wash for humanity.

    Image via Twitter

  • KFC Scarred Little Girl Was A Hoax

    The story of a badly disfigured little girl, who was asked to leave a Mississippi KFC restaurant, may have been a complete hoax.

    According to the Laurel Leader-Call, the allegations that three-year-old Victoria Wilcher and her grandmother were asked to leave the Jackson restaurant because she was scaring the other customers are false.

    “They just told us, they said, ‘We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,’” Kelly Mullins, Victoria’s grandmother said at the time of the alleged incident. “[Victoria] just cried the whole way home … She won’t look in the mirror.”

    Now, after a thorough investigation, it is believed that neither Kelly nor Victoria were at the restaurant as they claimed to be. Investigators reviewed the surveillance cameras in both the Meadowbrook and Woodrow Wilson KFC locations in Jackson and never saw a woman and child, matching Victoria’s description, in either restaurant on May 15.

    “I ordered a sweet tea and mashed potatoes and gravy,” Kelly said. “I sat down at the table and started feeding her and the lady came over and said that we would have to leave, because we were disturbing other customers, that Victoria’s face was disturbing other customers.”

    Again, investigators found no transaction that included mashed potatoes and gravy and a sweet tea on the date the incident was supposed to have happened.

    Until the investigation is complete no one with KFC, including Jackson franchise owner Kirk Hannon, will comment on the incident. However, they did release the following statement.

    “We continue to take this report seriously, and of course have great sympathy for Victoria and her family. Since we have so far not been able to verify the incident in our internal investigation, we have also hired a third-party consultant to conduct an independent investigation to help us resolve this matter,” the statement read.

    “We have always prided ourselves on respect for all people and we will continue to emphasize this to all our employees. In addition, regardless of the outcome of the current investigation, KFC Corporation has committed $30,000 to assist with Victoria’s medical bills,” the statement added. “Along with the KFC Corporation, we are determined to get to the truth and address the situation appropriately.”

    So, was the story simply a hoax to raise money for Victoria’s medical bills? That is what many people are thinking seeing as though Victoria’s gofundme.com fundraising site had only raised $600 prior to the news stories, and now has raised a whopping $135,000.

    However, Vitoria’s family is adamant that the story is not a hoax. Teri Rials Bates, Victoria’s aunt, took to Victoria’s Facebook Page called Victoria’s Victories to try and set the record straight. “I promise its not a hoax, I never thought any of this would blow up the way it has. The article circling the web calling this a hoax is untrue. The article it self say the investigation is not complete. It is not over until KFC releases a statement,” the Facebook post read.

    “The media outlet running this story is not connected with KFC. The family has not asked for anything, a attorney is handling all the media publicity for the family pro bono. Please do not believe untrue media. I have personally watched this family go without to provide for Victoria,” the post continued. “They have not and would not do anything to hurt Victoria in any way.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons