This past Tuesday, Darnell Washington, a KFC employee in Oakshare, North Carolina forced Kaleb Brimmley, an 8-year-old boy suffering from Down Syndrome to leave the Oakshare KFC without finishing his food.
Darnell claims that he thought it was within the employee handbook to kick out any patrons that are disfigured or have any sort of affliction that could cause other restaurant goers distraction.
Darnell told the media: “I remember seeing something all over the internet a couple of months ago about a little disfigured girl getting kicked out of KFC, and assumed it was protocol. It’s not like I wanted to kick that boy out, it was awkward and I had to build up the courage to do it because I am a company man and wanted to demonstrate my ability to do the right thing.”
The incident Darnell references in which a disfigured girl was asked to leave a KFC due to her deformities being a distraction to other patrons has since been uncovered as a hoax.
It has been confirmed by his management team that Darnell did not solicit advice or direction from his supervisor before acting. “No, I never bothered to ask them. I wanted to step up and prove to my manager, Dave, that I have what it takes to be the next shift lead!”
Patrons dining at the popular chain restaurant that night claim that Kaleb was politely eating his chicken with what appeared to be his mother and grandmother, and was not doing anything to cause a scene. One patron told the media “The boy was not doing anything to distract the other guests; I mean it was obvious there was something different about him, you could tell, of course. I don’t think anyone even complained about it. Why would they? He was just eating his chicken, but I’m pretty sure that is what they want you to do there.”
“KFC loves all their patrons, and it is definitely not in our company policy to ask any patron to leave because of physical or mental deformity,” said Harland Sanders, CEO of KFC. “We have never done that. The young girl who made national news after supposedly being asked to leave has since been debunked as a hoax that went viral. I guess in the end, the lesson we should teach our employees is that you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
It is unclear if this incident will result in Darnell’s employment at KFC to be terminated. It was reported that soon after the story broke and first received media attention, KFC’s Facebook profile was briefly changed to the “feeling annoyed” emoticon, however it hasn’t been confirmed that the status update was an acknowledgment of the incident.