Former 'American Idol' Contestant Bo Bice Feuding With Popeyes Chicken

If the name Bo Bice rings a bell, you may recall him as the runner up from the fourth season of American Idol in 2005, losing out to Carrie Underwood around the peak of Idol mania. Following his Idol loss Bice enjoyed a modest but fairly brief mainstream music career, but hasn’t really been heard from in several years. That is until this week, however not because of his music but a beef with a Popeye’s Chicken employee.

Bice claims that while passing through the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the Popeye’s employee made a racially insensitive comment to him. Speaking in a teary interview to Atlanta’s Fox 5 News, Bice says that when the women working behind the counter asked whose food it was: “Just when I turned around, one of them said ‘that white boy.'”

Now Bice demands satisfaction over the incident, and the father of four is clearly not going to take this lying down.

“If tables had been turned and I used something as insensitive like that… I would be boycotted, people wouldn’t buy my albums,” Bice said.

“It’s time for us to wake up and start having some dialogue,” Bice said. “It’s not 1960, it’s 2017 and we are all adults here.”

When reached out to by Fox 5, Popeye’s released the following statement in which they claim this kind of behavior is unacceptable and disciplinary action had been taken against the employee in question.

“Mack II Inc. is very sorry that the incident occurred and for any pain or embarrassment that Mr. Bice experienced. The company does not condone the behavior of one of our associates and we took corrective action as soon as we were made aware of the incident. Also, we will require re-training of our associates to ensure this isolated incident does not occur again. In addition, Mr. Bice has been issued an apology by the General Manager. We value all of our customers regardless of race, religion, age, disability, gender, etc.”

By Wednesday morning however, Bice’s name began trending on Twitter, and the internet had jokes.

https://twitter.com/STINGRAYdrienne/status/816523451506786304

Former American Idol Finalist Bo Bice Complains About Being Called "White Boy" At Popeye's, Prompting Everyone to Ask "Who is Bo Bice?"

— bornmiserable.bsky.social (@bornmiserable) January 4, 2017