McDonald's CEO Fired After He's Caught Clobbering Employee McMuffins

Source: McDonalds / McDonalds

McDonalds CEO Fired After An Affair With A Subordinate

While the fast food industry is battling for the supreme title of best chicken sandwich, every CEO is looking to innovate and bring their A game. Popeyes is bringing back their beloved chicken sandwich,  Chick-Fil-A is serving new mac & cheese to go with their classic sandwich, and several other fast food places are prepping new items to get ready for the holiday season. One company that’s been out the conversation, though, is McDonald’s. Many chalked it up to just regular lazy Mcdonald’s behavior, but TMZ reports that may not be why they were lacking leadership direction.

McDonald’s recently announced that they have parted ways with their CEO Steve Easterbrook, who’s been in charge since 2015. For context, a CEO is responsible for direction and leading the company. With fast food bombing on social media (even if its for a chicken sandwich at another company) you have to step up and get in the conversation by any means–and McDonald’s has just been lost in the sauce.

Now, it seems like the company has found out whats got their CEO so distracted: He’s been munching on some employee’s McMuffins…literally. McDonald’s didn’t hold back in letting the public know why they were letting the CEO go, either. Keep in mind, this announcement comes just months after it was announced that the fast-food chain had been hit with 25 sexual harassment lawsuits.

In a blog post about the firing, the company wrote:

“Chris Kempczinski succeeds Steve Easterbrook, who has separated from the Company following the Board’s determination that he violated company policy and demonstrated poor judgment involving a recent consensual relationship with an employee.”

Not only is the company putting Easterbrook on blast for all potential new employers to see, he’s losing a lot of money along with it. Easterbrook was racking in $16 million dollars a year while acting as CEO for the golden arches. And if you’re wondering, he was divorced–so he wasn’t stepping out on any wife on top of already losing everything.

McDonald’s explicitly states that no one within the company should have a relationship with another employee, period. No exceptions. Steve took the time to email his employees before leaving. In the email, he sadly wrote:

“This (relationship) was a mistake. Given the values of the company, I agree with the board that it is time for me to move on. Beyond this, I hope you can respect my desire to maintain my privacy.”

No word on how McDonald’s found out about the relationship, but the fact that everyone keeps putting extra attention on ‘consensual’ means there is sure to be a bigger story to follow.

Whoever she is, let’s hope he has $16 million dollars worth of reasons to risk it all.