KFC apologizes for Kristallnacht chicken promotion in Germany
KFC has apologized for sending a mobile phone alert to customers in Germany to commemorate Kristallnacht with cheesy chicken.
The fast food chain reportedly sent the alert to people who have the KFC app saying: "It's memorial day for Kristallnacht! Treat yourself with more tender cheese on your crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!"
Kristallnacht or "The Night of Broken Glass" was when mobs of Gmerans and Austrians attacked, looted, and burned Jewish shops and homes. More than 1,000 synagogues were destroyed and nearly 100 Jews were killled.
The violence is widely considered a starting point for the Holocaust.
The message sparked outrage on social media.
"@KFCDeutschland No, I don’t want tender cheese with my crispy chicken on #9November," one Twitter user wrote.
Dalia Grinfeld of the Jewish NGO Anti-Defamation League tweeted: "How wrong can you actually be at #Reichspogromnact @KFCDeutschland (@kfc)?! Shame on you!"
The Bild newspaper reported another message was sent about an hour after the first one with an apology.
Around an hour later another message was sent with an apology, according to the Bild.
It reported that the follow-up message said: "We are very sorry, we will check our internal processes immediately so that this does not happen again. Please excuse this error."