By now, we’ve all seen the emotional plea by the Lincoln, Nebraska, man urging the local city council to forbid restaurants from calling boneless chicken wings “boneless chicken wings.”
It’s a hilarious video. From his deadpan delivery to his clever use of puns, it’s no shock the footage has gone viral and has been covered by networks and the largest media organizations in the world.
But it’s all a joke, right?
Yes and no.
Although his speech was funny, there’s some truth behind it.
The New York Times caught up with Ander Christensen who told them that the mislabeling has long been a pet peeve.
“I would love nothing more than to have boneless chicken wings removed from menus,” he told the Times. “Don’t call it something it’s not.”
The video of his appeal has been viewed more than 3 million times and that has led his father (who is on the city council) to, well, pass the buck.
“Frankly, this is an issue that’s too large for a stage like the Lincoln, Nebraska, City Council,” the elder Christensen said. “This is probably something that would have to be addressed by the Department of Agriculture, since they take care of all the labeling. It’s gotten over 3 million hits, we may as well take this to the national level.”
Credit the New York Times for trying to get a comment from the USDA, although the agency didn’t have any.
In the meantime, Christensen (the younger), is stoked with the attention.
“I walked into that room thinking this is going to be something fun that dies at the end of the day,” he said. “Now I actually think something could happen, and I’m excited.”
