Burger King Forced To Delete Sexist Tweet After Severe Backlash; Issues Apology

Burger King Issues Apology For Tweet: Fast food giant Burger King was forced to delete a sexist tweet it had made on the occasion of Women's Day. The UK division of the fast-food chain's tweet was an attempt to get more women participants for its culinary scholarship.

The now deleted tweet read  "Women belong in the kitchen" was severely criticised by netizens, and the company had to issue an apology. "We decided to delete the original tweet after our apology. It was brought to our attention that there were abusive comments in the thread and we don't want to leave the space open for that," Burger King UK tweeted. The apology continued in the thread.

We decided to delete the original tweet after our apology. It was brought to our attention that there were abusive comments in the thread and we don't want to leave the space open for that.

— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021

We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we’re sorry. Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. We will do better next time.

— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021

The company was actually intending to bring out the fact that very few women are involved in leading professional kitchens. It had even released a full-page advertisement in The New York Times which said, "Only 24 per cent of chef positions in America are occupied by women. Want to talk head chefs? The number drops to fewer than 7 per cent." It also contained the "Women belong in the kitchen" phrase in bold.

One user questioned the company's stupidity while posting both the advertisement, and the tweet.

How stupid can you be? Especially on International Women’s Day... #smhhttps://t.co/FvEeHQh9ampic.twitter.com/LgkrKo5NZC

— Alex Chin (@chinstachinsta) March 9, 2021

A Twitter account related to KFC replied to Burger King's tweet by saying that that the tweet should have been deleted immediately after it was posted.

pic.twitter.com/QmJiwOGgZZ

— KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) March 8, 2021

However, not many people are buying Burger King's apology. Many users continued to slam the company for being sexist and misogynistic.

I knew there was a reason I’ve been avoiding Burger King my whole life

— Milo Manheim (@MiloManheim) March 8, 2021

One user wrote about how Burger King could have explained it's real intention within a single tweet.

Proof this could have even fit in one tweet

Please don't use sexism as clickbait. The men in my mentions proves the damage you're causing by doing this. pic.twitter.com/G0VKGgiZQp

— Becca (@BeccaBeckery) March 8, 2021

Another joked about how the company's social media manager might have executed the task.

Burger King's social media manager pic.twitter.com/zBvPnpYuVt

— marj 🍳 (@cydoniasands) March 8, 2021