KFC Apologizes For 'Racist' Facebook Image

KFC in Peru apologized Thursday after ruffling feathers with a Facebook post that was deemed racist.

A cartoon image of a black man in rags with missing teeth and a bone in his hair appeared on its social media page recently. The man declares his love for a piece of chicken.

The post "was intended to be a light, humorous cartoon, but we understand that people may have been offended by this," KFC in Peru said in a statement sent to The Huffington Post. "This was in no way intentional, and we truly apologize for any hurt this may have caused."

In the now-scrubbed image, a piece of chicken tells the caricature "How cute." To which the black character responds, "I love you." Peru.com noted that the Facebook page included a "cannibal" reference to the cartoon.

Twitter reacted with outrage, and a few outlets stateside, including Cosmopolitan and Brooklyn-based Latin culture blog Remezcla, also picked up on the controversial imagery, calling it flat-out racist.

"As anyone who's ever been on the Internet even once should know: It's forever, so the next time you're thinking of using a racist cartoon to sell something on your Facebook page, maybe don't," Cosmo wrote.

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