In some unsurprising news, Buffalo Wild Wings said that they will stop airing current commercials featuring its spokesman Steve Rannazzisi. Yesterday, Rannazzisi revealed in a series of posts on Twitter that a story he had been telling for several years about escaping the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was not true. The news couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time — the anniversary of 9/11 was just last Friday, for one thing. For another, Rannazzisi is currently in the spotlight for the seventh and final season of FX’s The League as well as a special on Comedy Central, set to air this Saturday. FX Networks hasn’t indicated that anything will change with their plans, but Comedy Central is saying that they’re “determining how [they] will move forward.”
Rannazzisi’s partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings just began in the past year or so, and when the news about the lie broke yesterday, a spokesperson for the restaurant chain said that they were “re-evaluating” their relationship with the comedian. But now, a day later, ESPN reporter Darren Rovell says that they will discontinue showing the current batch of commercials.
Buffalo Wild Wings: “We have decided to discontinue airing our current television commercials featuring Steve Rannazzisi.”
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 17, 2015
It could mean that Buffalo Wild Wings is showing an immediate response to the controversy and Rannazzisi might still have a future there; but something had to be done now. And lying about escaping the Twin Towers on 9/11 is pretty damn egregious, especially if you’ve been using it as “the thing that inspired your career” since 2009.
Well, at least Pete Davidson forgives him.
(via Darren Rovell/Twitter)
