McDonald's in Trouble After Racist Sign Hoax

An old online hoax is causing real-world headaches for McDonald's. A fake sign, claiming that McDonald's is charging African-American customers an extra $1.50 as an "insurance measure due in part to a recent string of robberies," first appeared on the Internet's notorious 4chan bulletin board last June. But for reasons unknown, the pic appears to have gotten new life a few days ago when it started circulating around Twitter, with the hashtag #seriouslymcdonalds," reports Gawker

McDonald's, of course, was quick to condemn the hoax. "That pic is a senseless and ignorant hoax. McD's values ALL our customers. Diversity runs deep in our culture on both sides of the counter," noted a company tweet. But despite its PR efforts, the inflammatory sign was trending on Twitter Saturday. By yesterday, however, most people seemed to be aware of the hoax, thanks in part to the viral nature of the Internet—and perhaps because the phone number at the bottom of the sign actually belongs to KFC. (More McDonald's stories.)