Kentucky Fried Racism: Why Lifetime’s “A Recipe For Seduction” Harms the Historically-Franchised
As a young person on the internet with a keyboard, it is my absolute moral duty to call out any and all forms of bigotry that I perceive to manifest in random forms of society. Since today is a Tuesday, the -ISM of choice that I am obligated to hunt down in an obscure corner of society otherwise unperturbed by systemic oppression is…racism! Once again, I did not need to look hard to find it; it was front and center on my algorithmically personalized Twitter feed which is definitely not pre-engineered to engage my attention by firing up my Outrageometer. Later this month, the Lifetime Channel and the fried chicken chain KFC are set to release a “mini movie” starring Access Hollywood host Mario Lopez titled “A Recipe for Seduction.” Lopez, a Latinx male, will portray KFC’s original founder and spokesman Colonel Harlan Sanders in the 15 minute holiday themed rom-com serving as a fried chicken advertisement. Unfortunately, here are the 2 key ways “A Recipe for Seduction” is just Lifetime and KFC dishing out a heaping plate of racism that significantly harms the historically-franchised.
- Cooking Up Cultural Appropriation
Cultural Appropriation, previously misidentified as an anthropological process known as Acculturation, and the way it plays to negative stereotypes is rampant everywhere in Hollywood, and this film does not pretend to be different. Here we have Mario Lopez, a middle aged Latinx man, portraying a white Southern fried chicken magnate. I’m sure people will comment ignorant things like “how could a fried chicken sandwich be tied to race,” but it doesn’t take a mathematician to know, based on their representative spokespersons, that corporate fried chicken culture is split 1/3 white (KFC), 1/3 black (Popeyes) and 1/3 cow (Chick-Fil-A.) You don’t see Jet Li masquerading as the nice Popeyes lady and you definitely don’t see Scooby Doo pretending to be the Eat Mor Chiken Cow. So why is Mario Lopez cast as Colonel Harlan Sanders, an obvious rich white Southern businessman? This significantly harms the rich white Southern businessman community, and the historically-franchised in general, by seeing someone of a different culture actively enhancing existing stereotypes about what a cartoonish white fried chicken tycoon might look or act like.
2. Re-fried Representation Issues
This woeful casting decision with Lopez as Sanders highlights another huge systemic issue in Hollywood, which is actors acting as someone other than someone who matches their demographic profile perfectly. Vince Gilligan choosing Bryan Cranston instead of an actual genius cancer patient chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin to play Walter White still feels rotten to this day. Looking at Lopez in this role, even without seeing one second of this film, it is evidently clear that this role should have gone to someone else. Why is an attractive, living, Latinx actor with no experience in the secret recipe game playing a portly, long-dead, Southern white male chef who found the perfect blend of herbs and spices!? It’s blatant, finger-lickin’ racism. Surely there are plenty of portly, long-dead, Southern white male chefs with secret formulas who could have auditioned for this role. Alas, their voices will not be heard yet again, and this time it’s not because they’re corpses lying in an underground box.
I can’t imagine the pain the rich white Southern chicken conglomerate community must feel when they see this film on their flat screen TV’s at their guarded estates. As a member of the historically franchised class, I can attest to just a small level of the personal shock I felt when I saw this film’s heavy promotion and how Lifetime and KFC decided to willingly make light of my people’s history. It will leave a bad taste in your mouth. I always liked Popeyes better anyway.
