Brace yourselves...and your stomachs. The number one trending topic on Facebook is a picture of a deep-fried rat someone allegedly found in their KFC meal.
After Devorise Dixon posted the photo on his Facebook page on June 11, it's since gone viral. Over 4,000 people have friended Dixon on Facebook and his "KFC rat" photos have been shared over 100,000 times.
People from all over the world are writing on his wall to say they will never eat at a KFC again.
The only problem is that it’s probably not a rat at all, but more likely a stunt for attention. It worked.
Here's the backstory.
25-year-old Dixon alleges that he ordered a three-piece chicken tender meal from a local KFC in Compton, CA on June 11. When he bit into one of the tenders, he claimed he knew something was off.
“It was very hard and rubbery which made me look at it,” he wrote with the original photo. “As I looked down at it I noticed that it was was in a shape of a rat with a tail."
Posted by Devorise Dixon on Thursday, June 11, 2015
He has since deleted the caption from the picture, but Snopes (a site dedicated to fact-checking viral news) archived it.
Here is the full caption in all its caps lock glory:
DON'T EAT FAST FOOD!!! I WENT TO KFC YESTERDAY AND BOUGHT A 3PIECE CHICKEN TENDER. AS I BIT INTO IT I NOTICED THAT IT WAS VERY HARD AND RUBBERY WHICH MADE ME LOOK AT IT. AS I LOOKED DOWN AT IT I NOTICED THAT IT WAS WAS IN A SHAPE OF A RAT WITH A TAIL. IT SENT DEEP CHILLS THROUGHOUT MY WHOLE BODY! I'VE BEEN FEELING WEIRD EVER SINCE. I BOUGHT THIS IN COMPTON, CA ON WILMINGTON AND 120TH. I'VE NEVER SEEN CHICKEN LIKE THIS BEFORE ITS SICK!!!
Since his original allegation, over 4,200 people around the world have friended Dixon on Facebook and flooded his wall with praise and support.
Dixon then wrote to his new followers that he went back to KFC on June 12 and complained to the store manager, who he claimed said it was a rat and apologized.
WENT BACK TO KFC YESTERDAY AND SPOKE TO THE MANAGER SHE SAID IT IS A RAT AND APOLOGIZED, IT'S TIME FOR A LAWYER!!! BESAFE DON'T EAT FAST FOOD !!!
Posted by Devorise Dixon on Friday, June 12, 2015
He also posted a video to his timeline.
Posted by Devorise Dixon on Sunday, June 14, 2015
KFC has responded on Facebook to Dixon on Tuesday to say they had made multiple attempts to contact him and that there is no evidence to support his allegation.
KFC confirmed to Business Insider that they had reached out to Dixon, and that they requested he send the chicken to an independent lab to evaluate the product, but that he has refused to talk to them directly or through an attorney.
He also refuses to turn over the “rat.”
Even without KFC’s comments though, it looks like a fake. First and foremost, there’s a crack in the breading where you can see the white meat underneath.
You can see the crack even more clearly in these pictures:
There’s also a noticeable lack of any bones that Dixon would have bitten into if he had taken a bite of the skull like he claims.
KFC also sent Business Insider a picture of what it looks like turned over where you can clearly see the white meat poking through.
The tail looks fishy, but it could most likely be another strip of chicken or a chicken skin that was accidentally fried.
Business Insider has reached out to Dixon and we will update if we hear back.
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