On February 25, 2022, CNN put in a commercial break during the invasion of Ukraine as the sound of sirens was heard in the entire city, and within seconds later, the side-by-side transition came in with an Applebee's ad with the song "Chicken Fried" By Zach Brown Band. News about this incident was everywhere. On Twitter, a user by the name of ScottJW mocked this incident and called them out for their actions with a quote: "There's this thing called tone and tact. Look it up. Because your blending of commercials and all hell breaking out in Europe isn't working."
"I-I have no idea how they managed it... but somehow, this ("Fancy Like" by Walker Haydes) is no longer the most jaw-droppingly tasteless association of a country song with Applebee's."
— Sean Fay-Wolfe, Diamond Axe Studios Music video "100 Biggest Hit Songs of 2021: Ranked Worst to Best - Part 1"
Why We Weren't Ordering Applebee's On That Day
- It discourages the live coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and makes this a joke, even though that's not what it's supposed to be.
- In fact, this shows how CNN never cares about the coverage in Ukraine and it even goes to show how extremely disrespectful and greedy they are to the people in Ukraine.
- The dancing cowboy is so cringy it's like he's posting for a TikTok video.
- It even caused Applebee's to apologize and remove their ads from CNN.
The Only Redeeming Quality
- The Zac Brown Band song, "Chicken Fried," is very catchy to listen to, even for Applebee's advertisement standards.