The Creepy Clown Epidemic Has Literally Forced McDonald’s To Stop Using Ronald McDonald
I don’t care about Ronald McDonald one way or the other, though a clown is admittedly a weird thing to represent one of America’s largest and most internationally famous businesses. (And also seems like the go-to sheep’s clothing for 1980s pedophiles.) It’s a wonder our society doesn’t come off as much, much creepier to the rest of the world with Ronald McDonald as such a visible and highly recognizable symbol associated with America. Objectively, stepping outside of being an American for a second, if a clown were one of the most prominent symbols of the society that culturally, economically, and militarily dominated the world I lived in, I would deeply distrust those people. I would actively work to undermine those lunatics. God I hope that means Vladimir Putin was once molested by a clown.
Though any sane person wouldn’t equate mentally unstable kids wearing clown masks and wandering out of roadside forests while holding farm equipment in the middle of the night with a friendly cartoon clown who serves hamburgers, to get out ahead of the inevitability that someone becomes offended by their clown mascot, McDonald’s has decided to keep Ronald McDonald on the D-L for a while.
McDonald’s says Ronald McDonald is keeping a low profile with reports of creepy clown sightings on the rise.
McDonald’s Corp. said Tuesday that it is being “thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald’s participation in community events” as a result of the “current climate around clown sightings in communities.” The company did not provide any other details about how often its red-haired mascot makes appearances, and how that will change.
I look forward to people eventually demanding that Burger King apologize to Native Americans and other people of color for using a mascot that draws inspiration from the European monarchies that colonized and enslaved countless cultures.
I regret writing that last paragraph, because I just helped some uninspired college sophomore figure out how to get called “brave” on social media..
[via Yahoo!]

Since fat dans gone can we all make fun of bacon for looking like a ghost
10 years ago at 6:21 pmWe always did that.
10 years ago at 6:23 pm50 bucks says Grandex blew their budget making Total Frat Movie and they’re now liquidating because of how bad it flopped
10 years ago at 6:22 pmThat’s definitely what it is. Plus I’ve noticed less people like stuff on their sites. People have lost respect for this site all together and now firing everyone has only made it worse.
10 years ago at 6:26 pmThat’s not at all what happened, though the timing makes it look like that.
10 years ago at 7:02 pmFuck you
10 years ago at 7:04 pmThen please, enlighten us: what DID happen?
10 years ago at 7:06 pmI believe there will be some sort of statement tomorrow. But suffice it to say yesterday was a huge, huge bummer.
10 years ago at 7:10 pmAll bullshit aside, this actually is a cool site with some fairly decent writers (not Wally, Steve Holt, or the freelancers). Hope it keeps going in some form or another.
10 years ago at 7:18 pmWally and steveholt should have a Clorox chugging contest and yeah, some of the freelancers are garbage but Karl still puts out some good content and Old Ironsides has written some good stuff too.
10 years ago at 7:32 pmFreelancers are scum and should go back into the dark room cages they’re kept in
10 years ago at 8:27 pmI’m guessing that Grandex can’t secure advertising because America is now full of PC pussies. The funds have dried up thanks to liberal mother fuckers.
10 years ago at 7:19 pmThat’s why they’ve been pushing Rowdy Gentlemen and the TFM movie.
The sites and the brands are incredibly secure. If there isn’t a statement before Thursday it’s definitely getting addressed in the podcast. That’s really all I can say for now.
10 years ago at 7:22 pmIf boosh is gone, alls lost.
10 years ago at 7:42 pmI’m out too, not that anybody cares but I did want to say thanks everyone for the feedback and readership. Enjoyed my time here.
10 years ago at 7:54 pmI left you out in my above comment but always enjoyed your articles. Good luck with everything in the future.
10 years ago at 8:13 pmAppreciate it, thank you. I’m with a sports site now but out of respect for this site and the guys who run it I won’t mention the name. Thanks for the good times everybody.
10 years ago at 8:16 pmAlways liked you sibs. And we never did make that Vegas trip. Best of luck.
10 years ago at 10:20 pmHey sibs, in all seriousness, you and DeFries were the only writers I enjoyed on this site. I’d like to keep reading. Where are you going or where can I find it?
10 years ago at 12:39 amSibs, you may have been shit at gambling, but I loved just about everything else you did
10 years ago at 8:24 pmAll jokes aside, I’ve talked my fair share of shit about this site and how it’s gone downhill. But I’d be lying to say that I haven’t enjoyed an article from most of the guys who have been laid off recently. And it’s always sad to see someone lose their job no matter what the circumstance is.
10 years ago at 8:32 pmJust being honest sibs you were my favorite, even if you fuckin suck at betting.
10 years ago at 9:08 pmIt’s very rare to find a site you can get paid to describe someone’s life as “cum covered shame immortality.” That I will definitely miss. And now I’ll go back to my real job, still terrified someone will figure out who I am and fuck my whole situation up.
10 years ago at 9:11 pmI guess working for TFM wasnt your worst bet.
10 years ago at 9:15 pmWow, that’s the most touching thing I think we’ll ever hear from Frabst
10 years ago at 9:17 pmFuck you, I dont feel feelings unless you count horny/mad/drunk simultaneously.
10 years ago at 9:49 pmI’ll save everyone the suspense: Grandex makes virtually all of their money from their retail brands (Rowdy Gentleman, Lady, etc). In terms of the company’s business model, TFM/TSM/PGP were little more than loss-leaders designed to drive the target demo for these brands into centralized media/lifestyle site that Grandex could use to promote these brands in-house and drive retail sales (this is the same business model that a number of lifestyle sites such as Thrillist use). With the retail brands now well-established and generating stable revenue, the expense of staff writers is no longer needed, so they fired almost all of them to cut costs and increase profits. From here on out TFM is going to operate more or less like Bleacher Report, farming out the production of listicles, reddit re-posts, Twitter roundups and other low-quality clickbait bullshit like that to unpaid or low-paid freelance writers to keep costs down. Just enough content that they can keep a maintenance level of through-traffic to the retail brands and minimize labor costs.
That about right, Bacon?
10 years ago at 4:09 pmYes most of our revenue comes from the clothing brands. No that is not our plan for future content.
10 years ago at 4:19 pmSpeaking of Creepy Clowns: you were incredibly prescient in foreseeing the creepy clown meme (see page 11): https://totalfratmove.wpengine.com/11-ways-to-photoshop-a-vagina-out-of-a-picture/
PS: More like this, please.
10 years ago at 6:40 amCutting your losses. TFM.
10 years ago at 9:11 pmSibs is gone? What the fuck is happening
10 years ago at 9:33 pmDorn finally got caught so now they need money to pay for his lawyers?
10 years ago at 10:33 pmGrandex sounds desperate enough to bring back the forums.
10 years ago at 2:26 pmThanks for getting rid of arguably one of your best writers, Boosh, and the man that brought us our 2nd hardy in the morning.
10 years ago at 6:23 pmThis is pure speculation without a factual basis: people visit the site and buy the clothing whether the content is good or not. They were paying the freelancers for content, plus paying the content managers to edit the content. It wasn’t cost effective. Harrison started his own company months ago, and Boosh was perpetually hungover, so those were easy fires. Dan was collateral damage. The movie had nothing to do with it. They sold the rights years ago and it’s been more or less out of their hands since then.
10 years ago at 5:42 amThe low revenue epidemic has literally forced Grandex to stop using their best writers.
10 years ago at 6:25 pmQuit being a bunch of pussies and make this the TFM it was several years ago or change the name of the site. It has just been one giant down hill slope since then.
10 years ago at 6:28 pmWelcome to Texas Barstool
10 years ago at 9:19 pmIf you’re going to ban a fast food mascot, dump that fucked up mutant Jack n the Box has.
10 years ago at 7:00 pmAre we not going to talk about that soulless Wendy bitch?
10 years ago at 10:18 pmThose last 2 paragraphs are gold.
10 years ago at 7:34 pmRob Fox is a pickle butt.
10 years ago at 9:18 pmPlease Dear Christ tell me you didn’t get rid of Instagram Babe of the Day.
10 years ago at 9:30 pmMore like the whole website
10 years ago at 11:11 pmDan and Boosh had compromising information to indict Hillary and the email was accidentally leaked…this is the result #staywoke
10 years ago at 10:47 pm