Buffalo Wild Wings said Thursday afternoon that it has decided to stop airing commercials featuring Steve Rannazzisi, just a day after the comedian admitted that he made up a story about escaping the World Trade Center during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Upon careful review, we have decided to discontinue airing our current television commercials featuring Steve Rannazzisi,” the company said in a statement.
The decision is a blow to the Minneapolis-based chicken wing chain, which started airing commercials featuring Rannazzisi in March.
Rannazzisi is the star of “The League” on FX, which features a fictitious group of friends in Chicago who play fantasy football. That made him a natural fit for Buffalo Wild Wings, which largely caters to a crowd of sports enthusiasts.
The controversy arose this week, when Rannazzisi admitted that a story he had long told about a harrowing escape from the South Tower of the World Trade Center was not true. The admission came only after the New York Times presented the comedian with evidence that contradicted the story.
Buffalo Wild Wings said Wednesday that it was reviewing its relationship with the comedian, and ultimately decided that it should no longer run the ads. It becomes the second major restaurant chain in recent months that ended a campaign because of controversy surrounding a spokesman. Subway ended its relationship this summer with longtime spokesman Jared Fogle.
“He was set to be the face of Buffalo Wild Wings,” Buffalo Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith told Yahoo! “We hired Steve as an actor, not because of any previous work that he had done. I think it’s something that every brand has to look at.”
“There’s always a risk,” Smith added. “There’s always things you need to do and be aware of. While unfortunate, I can’t say we wouldn’t have another personality at some point.”
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