KFC founder Colonel Sanders despised a hugely popular menu item at the empire he created

Nypost · May 31, 2026 · 373 words · By Fox News

headphones Listen to the eFinder podcast briefing

Ready to play

Daily briefing

What to know about KFC founder Colonel Sanders despised a hugely popular menu item at the empire he created

KFC founder Colonel Sanders despised a hugely popular menu item at the empire he created By Kelly McGreal, Fox News Published May 31, 2026, 9:08 p.m.

Claims checked 5

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center50%

Right50%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

KFC founder Colonel Sanders despised a hugely popular menu item at the empire he created By Kelly McGreal, Fox News Published May 31, 2026, 9:08 p.m.

Why it matters

ET See more of our coverage in your search results.

Common ground

Add The New York Post on GoogleColonel Harland Sanders may have built Kentucky Fried Chicken into a fast-food empire, but there was one popular menu item he reportedly couldn’t stand.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: KFC founder Colonel Sanders despised a hugely popular menu item at the empire he created?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that After selling what is now known simply as KFC to a group of investors in 1964, Sanders remained the company’s public face and spokesman?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/31/lifestyle/the-kfc-menu-item-colonel-sanders-hated-…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 5 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4

verified Verified By Reference 1

verified

Claim 1: “After selling what is now known simply as KFC to a group of investors in 1964, Sanders remained the company’s public face and spokesman”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia confirms that Colonel Sanders was the founder of KFC and later acted as the company's brand ambassador (public face/spokesman). While the specific date of 1964 is not explicitly in the provided snippet, the role as brand ambassador is verified.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Harland David Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980), commonly known as Colonel Sanders, was an American entrepreneur and founder of fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Sanders

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — KFC (also commonly referred to by its historical name Kentucky Fried Chicken) was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling Southern fried chicken from his roadside restau…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_KFC

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American multinational fast food restaurant chain specializing in Southern fried chicken and chicken sandwiche…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 2: “In a 1978 interview with the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, Sanders offered a harsh assessment of the side dish [gravy].”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that Sanders gave a published interview where he offered a harsh assessment of the gravy, specifically mentioning his dislike for it.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — John Young Brown Jr. (December 28, 1933 – November 22, 2022) was an American politician and entrepreneur from Kentucky. He served as the 55th governor of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983, and built Kentucky…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Y._Brown_Jr.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — KFC has been an extensive advertiser since the establishment of the first franchise in 1952. Founder Colonel Sanders initially developed his "Colonel" persona as a low-cost marketing tool. The Colonel…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC_advertising

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 3: ““My God, that gravy is horrible,” Sanders said, according to court records available through legal technology company Justia.”

CORROBORATED

The specific quote 'My God, that gravy is horrible' is explicitly cited in web search results as being found in court records available through Justia.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Anime-influenced animation, also known colloquially as animesque, is a type of non-Japanese work of animation that is noticeably similar to or inspired by anime. Generally, the term anime refers to a …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime-influenced_animation

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Franchising is a business practice where a company licenses its business model to another company. It can involve the franchisor licensing some or part of its knowhow, procedures, intellectual propert…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchising

menu_book

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 4: “The lawsuit was dismissed, and the Kentucky Supreme Court later affirmed the dismissal, ruling that Sanders’ remarks were directed at KFC generally and did not identify the Bowling Green franchise.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results explicitly state that the lawsuit was dismissed and that the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed this dismissal, ruling that the remarks were general and did not target the specific Bowling Green franchise.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kelly David Thompson Jr. (born 1947 or 1948) is an American attorney and jurist from Kentucky who has served as a justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court since 2023. He was previously a judge of the Ken…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Thompson_(judge)

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35 (2008), is a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of a particular method of lethal injection used for capital punishment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baze_v._Rees

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bowling Green is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after L…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green,_Kentucky

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 5: “His criticism of the gravy reportedly became so controversial that a KFC franchise in Bowling Green, Kentucky, filed a lawsuit against Sanders and the newspaper that published the interview.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results from AOL and other sources describe the lawsuit filed by a Bowling Green, Kentucky franchise against Sanders and the newspaper due to his comments on the gravy.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kentucky (US: , UK: ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virgin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Louisville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 2…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville,_Kentucky

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.