You know that thing where companies pretend to be a real, slightly annoying person on social media? Well, today’s drama comes courtesy of Wendy’s, the fast food place.
Flashback to earlier this week, when Katy Perry went to space for around four minutes with an all-female team for the private space tourism company Blue Origin (Other members of the “crew” included Gayle King and Jeff Bezos’ fiancé Lauren Sánchez). It was criticized by many for its general opulence and misappropriation of feminist language.
The singer was especially hyped about her experience, telling Elle beforehand, “If I could take glam up with me, I would do that. We are going to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut.” Once in space, she twirled a daisy and revealed the setlist for her upcoming tour. She then dramatically kissed the ground upon her return.
So, what does a hamburger chain have to do with this? Well, the official Wendy’s account, which has a history of trolling, replied to a tweet saying that Katy had returned from space with the words, “Can we send her back.”
More innocently, it also shared images of Katy kissing the ground with a play on one of her hit singles:
But then quickly followed it up with a post that read, “When we said women in stem this isn’t what we meant.”
It’s worth noting that the response to this was pretty divisive, with some criticizing the corporation for posting something so obviously shady. Kesha even appeared to nod to the whole thing with a milkshake. But one person who was certainly less-than-thrilled was “a source close to the situation” who spoke to People.
“Wendy’s didn’t make a joke — they made a choice. Their recent posts on X aimed at Katy Perry were not only disrespectful, but blatantly inappropriate,” they said. “This wasn’t harmless banter, this was a billion-dollar brand using its platform to publicly demean a woman.”
Calling the move “irresponsible” and “hypocritical,” given the whole Wendy-is-a-girl-thing, they continued, “Telling a woman that she should be ‘sent back’ is shameful bullying and reflects a troubling willingness to tear down in today’s society.”
Demanding that the brand apologize, they claimed that the company was “not adding to the conversation, they’re dragging it down and this kind of behavior contributes to a culture where women are punished for standing out or a woman daring to do something different is a target.”
Wendy’s then had to issue a statement, telling People, “We always bring a little spice to our socials, but Wendy’s has a ton of respect for Katy Perry and her out-of-this-world-talent.”
Well, we shall see how Katy responds to the backlash…