Update: Dixon has allowed the tender to undergo lab tests which determined the odd-shaped tender to in fact be comprised of chicken.
A KFC customer in California says he got more than he bargained for when he bit into a chicken tender last week.
Devorise Dixon, 26, claims his local KFC restaurant in Compton served him up a rat, breaded and fried and complete with a tail.
“As I bit into it I noticed that it was very hard and rubbery which made me look at it,” Dixon said in a June 11 Facebook post. “As I looked down at it I noticed that it was in a shape of a rat with a tail. It sent deep chills throughout my whole body! I’ve been feeling weird ever since. It’s time for a lawyer, be safe don’t eat fast food!”
In a follow up post the next day, Dixon says he took the rat tender back to the store and that the manager “said it was a rat and apologized.”
“She apologized for it. They actually just offered me a free meal,” Dixon told a radio station in Los Angeles, adding that he declined and said he would lawyer up instead.
While the story has gone viral, some say they smell a dirty rat.
One imgur user disputed Dixon’s photos, saying the white meat shown in the photos appears to be chicken.
KFC corporate has also issued a statement refuting Dixon’s claims, saying their tenders “often vary in size and shape” and that they’ve been unable to contact the man.
“This happened in the US and, following an immediate investigation, no evidence was found to support this claim,” a KFC spokesperson said. “Food safety is our highest priority worldwide and we take allegations of this nature extremely seriously.”
If Dixon is joking, KFC could get the last laugh.
Earlier this month, KFC sued three Chinese companies for allowing “false” rumors and “defamatory messages” to be spread on social media about its food, including speculation that their chicken is genetically modified to have more arms and legs.
Absent complete details, the fact-checking couple over at Snopes has already deemed Dixon’s story a “legend.”
However, if Dixon’s story is true, the following scene from the 90s MTV show Beavis and Butthead depicts how the frying of the rat might have gone down.
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