A&W pulled a fast one on Fox & now everyone is laughing

Fox correspondents didn’t get the gimmick after A&W released a statement meant to mock M&Ms for retiring its famous spokescandies due to right-wing vitriol aimed at the candy brand for slightly redesigning some of their signature mascot characters to be more “inclusive.”

M&Ms received a slew of criticism for bowing to anti-LGBTQ+ trolls like Tucker Carlson, and afterward, A&W released a sarcastic statement about its mascot, “Rooty the Great Root Bear” and how he doesn’t wear pants.

“We get it – even a mascot’s lack of pants can be polarizing,” the cheeky statement wrote, referencing M&Ms extremely not-cheeky statement that said, ” We get it – even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing.”

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The entire form of A&W’s statement mimicked the one from M&Ms as it declared, “we have decided that Rooty will wear jeans going forward…We are confident Rooty will continue to champion good food & good times for many years to come…now in denim.”

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A message from A&W. pic.twitter.com/WGdF12TSyg

— A&W Restaurants (@awrestaurants) January 24, 2023

While many on Twitter leaned into the fun, Fox Business did not get the joke. On an episode of “Mornings with Maria,” correspondent Cheryl Casone expressed outrage about the fake announcement, not realizing it was their ideology that was being mocked.

“First it was M&Ms, now its root beer…Apparently, according to the company, Rooty’s lack of pants was quite polarizing, they say.”

Maria Bartiromo joined in to express disgust, shouting, “What is the problem!”

Casone responded that it was the fault of the “woke police cancel culture” that had just gotten “ridiculous.”

Fox Business even published an article reporting on the situation, saying they had reached out to the company for more details on what inspired the change.

Fox Business responded to this news by lamenting the “woke police cancel culture” https://t.co/qQVR7BLeiT pic.twitter.com/BlJ4ZVuJtA

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 25, 2023

A&W had a field day with those who didn’t get the joke and continued to reply to those who were in on it.

We’re in this together.

— A&W Restaurants (@awrestaurants) January 25, 2023

He’ll switch to shorts in the summer, Justin.

— A&W Restaurants (@awrestaurants) January 25, 2023

We do it all for the people.