We all remember begging our parents to take us to McDonald's as kids. This fast food chain had everything a kid would want: a playground, a Happy Meal with all our favorite foods like the crispy McNuggets, overly salty fries, crisp Coke, and the best soft-serve ice cream ever.
McDonald's might have been the only place both parents and children could agree on because it was cheaper than going to a restaurant and allowed parents to take a break from the kids while they spent hours playing with their Happy Meal toys at the in-restaurant playground.
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McDonald's was previously known as the kids' favorite restaurant, but lately, the fast food chain has been hit with multiple allegations, lawsuits, and even a recent E. coli outbreak.
Related: McDonald's E. coli outbreak causes recall, hammers stock
However, this time, McDonald's may be facing one of the worst backlashes after an employee made a move that landed the fast food chain in the middle of one of the year's biggest controversies.
UnitedHealthcare CEO gunned down by masked suspect
The CEO of American health carrier UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was gunned down and killed outside of a hotel in New York City by a masked suspect during the early hours of the morning last Wednesday.
According to the police, the suspect was captured on security footage heading to Manhattan's Central Park on an electric bike immediately after the crime and then taking a taxi to a bus station to flee the city.
Related: UnitedHealth executive killed in 'targeted attack' in Manhattan
After a five-day search, the suspect in the UnitedHealthcare (UNH) CEO shooting, twenty-six-year-old Luigi Mangione, was arrested Monday on a gun charge at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, thanks to a McDonald's employee who alerted the police after a customer spotted the suspect.
Google removed negative reviews about McDonald's
The same day Mangione was taken into custody, multiple users flooded Google (GOOGL) with negative reviews about the McDonald's (MCD) location where the arrest occurred.
These reviews were unrelated to its business. Instead, they referred to political views, with some allegedly glorifying the suspect for the crime and slamming the McDonald's employee for calling the police.
According to Google, the reviews were removed because they violated their policies.
The policy states that the reviews "should reflect a genuine experience at a place or business" and that the content posted from multiple accounts only manipulated the business's ratings and, therefore, should be removed.
Social media reacts to the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder, criticizes McDonald's
Although the negative McDonald's reviews might be gone, people took to social media to express their thoughts on the UnitedHealthcare CEO's murder and the fast food chain.
A user on X expressed his opinion on the matter by posting:
"The fact that a McDonald's worker snitched on Luigi Mangione is just the latest reason to hate McDonald's. They hate the working man try to outprice them of s***** fast food and now turn in a person who did the right thing to one of these garbage a** CEOs."
Another user on X posted a meme with the following comment:
"The McDonald's worker who ratted out Luigi Mangione can choke bc if it was me, I'd give him free nuggets, burger, and fries."
Not only were the McDonald's Google reviews bombarded, but Yelp also suffered the same fate with thousands of negative reviews about the location.
People didn't know which McDonald's in Altoona PA was the one where Luigi Mangione was identified and apprehended, so they decided to hit all the Altoona McDonald's on YELP with bad reviews. Apparently, the reviewers seem concerned about that rat problem. pic.twitter.com/PtnbQW9tpp
— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) December 10, 2024
Since Mangione's arrest, McDonald's has hired private security to protect the employee who called the cops, as well as the rest of its employees, since the location has received multiple death threats.
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Mangione is currently being held at State Correctional Institution - Huntingdon, Bivens, under maximum custody without bail. He has been charged with murder in the state of New York and faces four additional charges.
A hearing for Mangione's extradition to New York was scheduled for Tuesday at the Blair County courthouse in Pennsylvania.
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