Popular fast-food eatery KFC Trinidad has

issued an apology to citizens following a full day of backlash towards a post

intended to commemorate Emancipation Day, August 1.

The post, published on its social media

pages on Saturday, was captioned “KFC wishes you a happy Emancipation Day”,

however, the imagery was what triggered a wave of criticism as several Trinidadians

viewed it as insensitive.

The artwork, which has since been deleted,

depicted KFC’s famous spicy chicken drumstick, with the silhouette of what

appeared to be a hand in the background displaying the black power gesture.

Several hours later, KFC TT returned with

another graphic, one filled with balloons accompanied by a caption which wrote,

“Happy Emancipation Day (sic) On August 1, 1985, Trinidad & Togabo became

the first country in the world to declare a national holiday to commemorate the

abolition of slavery.”

KFC REMOVES THE OFFENSIVE EMANCIPATION DAY CHICKEN LEG GREETINGS AND REPLACED IT WITH BALLOONS.Posted by

KFC REMOVES THE OFFENSIVE EMANCIPATION DAY CHICKEN LEG GREETINGS AND REPLACED IT WITH BALLOONS.Posted by RTN on Saturday, August 1, 2020

The second artwork, also deleted, finally spurred an apology, which indicated, “At KFC Trinidad, we always strive to recognize our nation’s multicultural history and make up, and to play our part recognising it.”

“Our intention was to support and recognise

the importance of this historically significant event. We recognise that our

posts commemorating Emancipation Day drew some negative responses. Clearly we

got it wrong and we want to unreservedly apologise for the offense caused. As a

result, we will be reviewing the approval process of all our communications to

avoid situations like this reoccurring,” the company added.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by KFC (TT) (@kfc.tt) on Aug 1, 2020 at 5:05pm PDT

KFC Trinidad was slammed for the first

imagery, as some felt the artwork sought to profit from the struggles of racial

inequality being experienced across the world, but more so amplified in the

United States.

Others were not moved by the graphic as

they saw nothing wrong with the post, and called out those so offended to not

be hypocrites and eat from KFC.

More still, drew comparisons to what KFC’s

franchises in Jamaica and Guyana had done to celebrate the occasion, finding

those much more in tune with the nature of Emancipation Day and expressed their

disappointment in the Trinidad-based company for missing the mark.

What do you think, BUZZ fam?