Five Guys Allegedly Sends Mass Email Calling Customers N-Word, Burger Chain Responds
Fast food chain Five Guys is in hot water after an alleged mass email was sent out calling customers on their ordering mailing list the N-word.
Screenshots of the mass email, which was allegedly sent out around Sept. 11, began making the rounds on social media earlier this week.
According to screenshots of the email, which appears to be an online ordering account activation confirmation, its greeting message reads, "Hi n----, Welcome to Five Guys online ordering!"
The email continues by telling customers Five Guys looks forward to serving them.
The message sparked outrage due to its bizarre inclusion of a racist slur.
"@FiveGuys sending this on patriot day?? How many other black people received this message? I never signed up for email!!!" one person who received the email shared on Twitter.
Another person asked if they should consider suing the company, while someone else claimed the message was indeed sent from the system that fulfills online orders for Five Guys.
"And if you thought this was spam, the email address is from the service providing online orders," they wrote.
Another Twitter user appeared to confirm what the latter tweeted, writing, "@FiveGuys so this what we doing now.....received this today in my email.....yes it legit and linked to your online page."
Five Guys responded to the backlash on Twitter, claiming an unknown party maliciously created multiple user accounts using customers' emails in order to send a mass message featuring the offensive profanity.
"Unfortunately accounts were created using emails like yours w/ profane language substituted for the customer name. Our IT team is tracing the source of this malicious activity. Five Guys strives to be an inclusive place & we in no way condone the use of language like this," they wrote in a tweet responding to one recipient of the email.
As of publishing, it's unclear how many people received the email and if Five Guys took any further action than tracing the source of activity.