KFC under fire for booting disfigured girl, 3, from restaurant

Kentucky Fried Chicken — facing a public relations disaster after one of its restaurants booted a disfigured girl, age 3, from its facility because she ostensibly disturbed other customers — has now agreed to pay $30,000 to her family.

The girl, Victoria Wilcher, wears an eye patch and her face is badly scarred due to a pit bull mauling a few months ago, CNN reported.

Her family tried to take her to a KFC in Jackson, Miss., but said they were treated with disrespect and ultimately asked by employees to leave.

“I ordered a large sweet tea and her some mashed potatoes and gravy because she was hungry,” said the girl’s grandmother, Kelly Mullins, in CNN. “She was on a feeding tube at the time, but I figured she could just swallow [the potatoes]. They just told us, they said, ’We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers.’ [Victoria] understood exactly what they said.”

The girl cried all the way home, Ms. Mullins said, CNN reported.

“She’s got a lot of surgeries to go through, and she won’t even look in the mirror anymore,” Ms. Mullins said, to WAPT. “When we go to a store, she doesn’t even want to get out [of the car]. She’s 3 years old, and she’s embarrassed about what she looks like. She’s embarrassed, and I hate it because she shouldn’t be. It ain’t her fault.”

CNN reported that social media exploded after KFC booted the girl, and angry posters began to rally for a boycott of the restaurant. Shortly after, KFC company heads launched an investigation.

“As soon as we were notified of this report … we immediately began an investigation as this kind of hurtful and disrespectful action would not be tolerated by KFC,” the company said in a statement reported by CNN. “Regardless of the outcome of our investigation, we have apologized to Victoria’s family and are committed to assisting them.”

KFC actually donated $30,000 to the family to help with Victoria’s medical bills, CNN reported.