Sold Out Nationwide: Popeyes Non-Homophobic Chicken Sandwich Is A Monster Hit

by | Aug 29, 2019 | QUEER RVA

The new Popeyes sandwich is so popular you can’t get it anywhere. Which is a shame, because it’s 100 percent less homophobic than Chick-Fil-A.

If you’ve been waiting for the lines to go down before you tried the new Popeyes’ chicken sandwich, you’ve waited too long. At least for now. On Tuesday, Popeyes released an official announcement on their Twitter account, saying they’d run out of their stock of chicken sandwiches… everywhere in the country.

While not every location was necessarily out at the time the statement was released, a Popeyes statement said that the supply they’d expected to last through the end of September was already gone. “As a result, Popeyes restaurants across the country are expected to sell out of the Chicken Sandwich by the end of this week,” the statement read.

If you’ve driven by any Popeyes around town over the past two weeks since the sandwich was released, you’re sure to have noticed the lines out the door, packed parking lots, and drive-thru lines snaking out onto the street. For my wife and I, this was enough to keep us away. But it hasn’t deterred many others, who effusively praised the sandwich on social media.

There were even incidents of people using food-delivery apps and having their orders stolen by delivery people.

Of course, the fact that Americans just love a chicken sandwich — and this Popeyes take on the classic fast-food item really is widely considered delicious — is a big part of this viral explosion. But it seems clear that people wanting an alternative to Chick-Fil-A’s proudly homophobic religious conservatism has played a big role as well.

And it makes sense — after the big kerfuffle over the Muppets pulling out of a deal with Chick-Fil-A due to their monetary support for anti-LGBTQ groups, the restaurant became a bit of a cause celebre on the right. And the restaurant has embraced that status, with the head of their charity division, Rodney Bullard, telling Business Insider earlier this year that “There’s a calling to help people, and I think at times that has been confused with a calling, somehow, to exclude,” and that “help[ing] every child” is “a much higher calling than any political or cultural war.”

This, even as their donations continue to go toward well-known anti-LGBTQ groups like the Fellowship Of Christian Athletes, who require their athletes to sign a purity pledge that forbids any form of non-heterosexual sex; and the Family Research Council, a Southern Poverty Law Center-certified anti-LGBTQ hate group.

Members and allies of the LGBTQ community have been seeking alternatives to Chick-Fil-A’s (admittedly tasty) chicken sandwich for quite a while now, and locally, Cobra Cabana’s Gay-Fil-A Sunday special has been a big hit. But the arrival of a non-homophobic fast food chicken sandwich is certainly always wonderful to see.

And for the record, Popeyes mostly stay out of politics, but Showbiz Cheat Sheet has reported that their chairman gives to Democratic politicians in Florida and is involved with the National Stem Cell Foundation. To the extent that they have a political record, it’s solidly liberal.

So whether you tried their briefly available chicken sandwich and loved it or are still waiting for the crowds to die down, let’s all hope that Popeyes gets that chicken sandwich back into its restaurants ASAP. Because as we all know, every time Chick-Fil-A loses a sale, an LGBTQ angel gets their wings.

Top Image via Popeyes/Twitter

Marilyn Drew Necci

Marilyn Drew Necci

Former GayRVA editor-in-chief, RVA Magazine editor for print and web. Anxiety expert, proud trans woman, happily married.



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