British businessman and McDonald’s chief executive Steve Easterbrook has left the company after acknowledging a consensual relationship with an employee ‘violated company policy’.
In an email to staff he wrote; ‘Given the values of the company, I agree with the board that it is time for me to move on.’ Cue widespread coverage from various media outlets, who provided details of the changes Easterbrook had made to the company (you can thank him for expanded delivery and mobile payment options) but what the Daily Mail also included was a picture of Chrissy Teigen. ‘McDonald's FIRES its British CEO Steve Easterbrook, 52, from his $16MILLION-a-year-job over affair with an employee after he turned around the fortunes of the fast food restaurant chain,’ read their headline.
To be clear, the model has nothing to do with the story, and the employee involved in the relationship hasn’t been named, but the juxtaposition of the image and headline sure made it look like Chrissy Teigen was very much the subject.
In true Teigen style, the model posted a screenshot of the story to Instagram with the caption; ‘press conference 9am’, later commenting ‘why me.’
And her celebrity friends were just as confused; ‘Wait did he sleep with you or Ronald McDonald? (Either way see you tomorrow at 9am),’ commented American journalist Derek Blasberg. ‘It’s your own fault, Chrissy. He said he was loving it and you let him believe it,’ wrote comedian Jenny Johnson. ‘Wait, does this mean I can finally get John on @bumble?’ added actress Sara Foster.
Easterbrook will be succeeded by Chris Kempczinski who has been working as president of McDonald’s USA.
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