KFC and the Scarred Little Girl

It was the kind of thing that could get your blood boiling. A 3-year old Mississippi girl named Victoria, severely scarred by an attack from her grandfather's pit bulls, was asked by an employee as a Jackson Mississippi KFC restaurant to leave because her appearance was scaring the other customers.

Her grandmother, Kelly Mullins had just ordered the little girl mashed potatoes because they were soft when she was told the girl's appearance was disturbing other customers and they were asked to leave.

The nation was shocked, the Internet was shocked, even KFC was shocked and pledged a full investigation plus $30,000 to help pay for Victoria's medical bills by way of apology.

GoFundMe set up a site to collect donations and collected over $132,000. The family set up a Victoria's Victories facebook page.

We all waited for justice to descend upon the foul perpetrators of this outrage.

Then, a slight cloud appeared on the horizon. The Leader-Call in Laurel Mississippi printed a story casting doubt that the incident ever occurred but used anonymous sources.

When the results of the two KFC investigations, including one by an independent investigator, were made public it turned out that neither came up with any evidence that the incident happened.

Then the Victoria's Victories facebook page disappeared after a post saying "I promise its not a hoax, I never thought any of this would blow up the way it has. ... Please do not believe untrue media. I have personally watched this family go without to provide for Victoria. They have not and would not do anything to hurt Victoria in any way."

GoFundMe has suspended the collection page and offered refunds to anyone who feels duped by the family. KFC appears ready to stand by its $30,000 pledge regardless of whether the story is true or not.

The family's attorney made the following statement, "Victoria's family appreciates the actions of KFC in their investigation of this matter...It is deeply disappointing that other parties have taken opportunity to attack Victoria through social and news media outlets. Victoria is an innocent child with very real physical and emotional scars.”

This is sort of a strange statement. No one is blaming the kid. Regardless of what went down she's clearly innocent and not a 3-year old criminal mastermind.

So what do I think? I honestly don't know. People under stress have been known to do some pretty stupid things but I just don't have enough information.

Regardless of whether the story is true or night, the child is innocent and still needs money for medical expenses. Hopefully most of the money collected will go into a trust fund for that purpose. I'm sure a local bank would be more than happy to administer it.