Buffalo Wild Wings Mutes National Anthem on 9/11, Says It’s too Controversial-Mostly Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
The manager of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Riverside County, California, muted the National Anthem before a Monday Night Football game on the 16th anniversary of 9/11, telling customers that it was company policy.
The Truth:
An employee at a Buffalo Wild Wings in California muted the National Anthem on the 16th anniversary of 9/11, but the franchise operator later apologized and denied that it’s company policy to mute the National Anthem because it’s too divisive.
Ed Anderson, who identified himself as a customer of the Buffalo Wild Wings in Eastvale, California, posted a personal account of the ordeal on Facebook on September 12, 2017. Anderson wrote that a Buffalo Wild Wings employee muted the National Anthem before a Monday Night Football game on September 11, stating that “corporate feels the National Anthem is divisive and will not be played in their stores.”
A CBS affiliate in Los Angeles picked up the story on September 14. That report cited a customer named “Lori” who told the same story as Anderson:
A customer who identified herself as Lori said the employee refused to play the sound of the anthem for one game, but played it for the game before.
When he was asked why, the employee — who was not identified – said the anthem is too controversial, and it was company policy not to play it.
“No one understood what was so controversial. It’s 9/11, it’s a sporting event, why is it controversial?” she said.
Lori took the employee’s picture and posted it on social media, where it spread quickly. She said a manager on Monday apologized immediately for that employee’s behavior.
After the CBS report, World Wide Wings, the company that operates the Buffalo Wild Wings location in question, apologized in a statement. The company also denied that has a policy requiring the National Anthem to be muted because it’s too divisive:
“World Wide Wings, a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise, apologizes for what happened at our restaurant before the Monday Night Football game. We do not have a policy regarding this matter.”
In the end, we’re calling claims that Buffalo Wild Wings wouldn’t let customers listen to the National Anthem on the anniversary of 9/11 “mostly true.” While it’s true that an individual employee muted the National Anthem, the franchise operator has denied claims that its company policy to mute the National Anthem.