Comedian David Alan Grier announced he will star in Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials as the new KFC Colonel Sanders.
“Breaking News: David Alan Grier has been cast as the first African American Colonel Sanders in the new KFC ad campaign. #KFC,” he tweeted on Thursday.
Some Twitter users expressed anger at the choice of a black man to portray the KFC icon. The controversy drew similarities to the Nina Simone biopic starring Latina actress Zoe Saldana.
NY daily News — Col. Harland Sanders, who died in 1980, became famous for his TV commercials marketing the finger licking good products.
Grier is the latest — and, by far, the most eye-catching — actor to play Col. Harland Sanders in KFC’s ongoing effort to rebrand itself.
In May, the company launched an ad campaign that revived the late Sanders in the form of “Saturday Night Live” comic Darrell Hammond.
Hammond’s gig was short lived, and he was replaced by fellow “SNL” alum Norm MacDonald, who also ended up being replaced when comic Jim Gaffigan took over.
But Grier, 60, is the first to cross what might be the ultimate racial divide.
