McDonald’s CEO apologizes after saying 2 killed children abandoned by parents
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski faces backlash for comments he made in a text message to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in which he appeared to blame the deaths of two black and Latino children who were killed on the parents of the children.
In his text to the mayor last April, Kempczinski spoke of the death of Jaslyn Adams, a 7-year-old girl who was shot dead while sitting in a car with her father in a McDonald’s parking lot in Chicago, and Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old Latino boy killed by police in March. He called the two deaths “tragic,” but then said that in each case, “the parents have failed with these children and I know that is something you cannot say. Even harder to fix. “
The messages, revealed after an anonymous activist filed a public information request, were sent a day after Adams’ murder.
Kempczinski has since apologized for his comments.
“I didn’t put myself in the shoes of Adam’s family or Jaslyn and so many others who are facing a very different reality,” he said in a letter to employees. “Not taking the time to think about it from their point of view was a mistake.
The letter was shared with NPR member station WBEZ. When asked by NPR to provide a copy, McDonald’s said it had no comment.
Kempczinski also held a town hall with McDonald’s staff on Monday, a source close to NPR confirmed. But no further details of the discussion were provided.
Campaigners are now pushing back McDonald’s
Criticism of Kempczinski was swift after his comments were revealed last Monday.
Several groups that are helping fight for better working conditions for people of color, including Color of Change, One Fair Wage, and Little Village Community Council, have banded together and protested against the company’s Chicago headquarters last week. . They also wrote a letter to Kempczinski on Wednesday, calling his text “ignorant, racist and unacceptable”.
“You have relied on lazy, outdated and racist stereotypes in order to maintain the status quo and avoid the accountability of those in power,” the groups wrote.
“As the leader of one of the world’s largest private employers and most iconic brands, you have a responsibility to do much better. “
CEO says he’s working to correct his “very narrow worldview”
The controversy over Kempczinski’s comments comes as McDonald’s grapples with questions on multiple fronts regarding its commitment to diversity and inclusion. The chain was one of the first in the country to elevate black restaurant owners, and earlier this year it decided to increase incentives for its executives to increase the number of women and people of color in its executive ranks.
Yet many of those efforts have been eclipsed in recent months, as the company faces a pair of high-profile lawsuits alleging racial discrimination.
In one case, 52 former black McDonald’s franchisees accused the company of placing them in neighborhoods with lower sales and higher costs to keep doors open, leaving them to make less money than their white counterparts. McDonald’s has denied the allegations.
In another case, two companies owned by media mogul Byron Allen claim McDonald’s discriminates against black-owned businesses over its advertising spending – allegations the chain also denies.
After more than a year of racial calculus spurred by the murder of George Floyd and a pandemic that has yet revealed massive disparities for blacks and Latinos, businesses – including McDonald’s – are committed to tackling systemic racism and improve equity and inclusion.
But Kempczinski’s comments fueled criticism that the challenges McDonald’s faces could be directly related to his leadership – concerns he sought to address in the firestorm over his text messages.
In a Nov. 6 video viewed by Bloomberg and sent to McDonald’s employees, suppliers and franchisees, Kempczinski apologized for his comments, calling them “bogus” and saying, “I let you down and I let myself down. ”
In the video, the CEO acknowledges that he has a “very narrow worldview” which he is working to address. Asked by NPR how Kempczinski plans to expand this worldview, McDonald’s declined to comment. [Copyright 2021 NPR]