McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski finally broke his silence about the viral video that made him a meme, and, if you ask him, his mom’s at fault. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal on Monday, the Illinois-based CEO joked about the flak he got from that February clip. “I blame it all on my mom, because she told me, ‘Don’t talk with your mouth full,’” he said. Looking back, he admits he probably should have ignored that advice, at least while filming.
What started as just another McDonald’s promo spun out quickly. Fans jumped online to point out how stiff and awkward Kempczinski looked while biting into the much-hyped Big Arch burger.
In the video, he rolled out the new menu item and called it a “product,” then announced, “I’m gonna eat this for my lunch, just so you know.” He listed out the ingredients but seemed a bit lost, adding, “I don’t even know how to attack it.”
After that, the camera zeroed in as he took a bite and said, “That’s a big bite for a Big Arch”, but the internet wasn’t buying it. People roasted him for how tiny the bite actually was.
The Wall Street Journal sat down with Kempczinski at McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. It was his first time speaking out since that video took off online. He said he actually found out he was going viral from one of his kids, who told him, “Dad, you’ve gone viral and not in a good way.”
When they asked about the small bite he took, Kempczinski said that’s just something left over from his childhood. His mom was strict about table manners. He laughed and said maybe he should have ignored her advice, at least for that one moment.
Internet Reacts to Illinois-Based McDonald’s CEO Burger Comment
The explanation did little to satisfy viewers online. “So now it’s the mum’s fault? Will this man ever take accountability?” one person wrote. Others found the deflection more amusing than convincing, with one commenter cutting straight to the point: “Grown man throwing his mom under the bus for a ‘joke’.”
Some took it further. “The guy is scared of his own food, and he tries to make it funny,” one person wrote, while another wondered aloud, “Did she also tell him to spit out the food?” At least one commenter was simply curious about the other side of the story: “All right, let’s hear what Mama has to say on the subject.”
The response that perhaps best captured the absurdity of the whole situation came from someone who clearly appreciated the chaos: “PR team spent 72 hours in a war room, and he walked out with ‘my mom said don’t talk with your mouth full.’ Respect the chaos.”
People are talking about the story again because it finally wraps up the drama everyone online has been tracking for a while. When that original bite video went viral, every fast food chain, including Burger King, Wendy’s, A&W, and more, jumped in with their own takes. But Kempczinski kept quiet the whole time.
Now that he has finally spoken up, blaming his childhood table manners for all things, everyone has got a new excuse to pile on. And they are loving it.
