Critics slam McDonald's CEO's text message about the shooting deaths of 2 children as 'ignorant, racist, and unacceptable'

• A FOIA request revealed McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski's texts with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
• Chicago activist groups are planning are rally and say the message was "ignorant" and "racist."

Groups in Chicago are reacting to newly revealed text message from McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski to Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot with an open letter and plans to hold a rally outside of McDonald's headquarters tomorrow.

On April 19, Kempczinski sent a text message to Lightfoot that read "p.s. tragic shootings in last week, both at our restaurant yesterday and with Adam Toldeo [sic]. With both, the parents failed those kids which I know is something you can't say. Even harder to fix." He was referring to two children, Jaslyn Adams, 7, who was killed in her father's car outside a Chicago area McDonald's, and Adam Toledo, 13, who was fatally shot by police.

The message to Lightfoot, who had visited McDonald's headquarters earlier that day, was revealed in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. WBEZ Chicago first reported the news.

So far, 12 activist groups in Chicago, including Fight for $15 and Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, plus some area workers, plan to gather outside McDonald's headquarters on Wednesday and share an open letter with Kempczinski.

"It's clear to us you're the one who has failed here," reads the open letter, viewed by Insider. "Your text message was ignorant, racist and unacceptable coming from anyone, let alone the CEO of McDonald's, a company that spends big money to market to communities of color and purports to stand with Black lives."

The letter goes on to say that McDonald's has a "rotten, racist culture" under Kempczinski, referencing the $1 billion racial discrimination lawsuit filed by over 50 Black franchisees against the company in 2020 that alleged "systematic and covert racial discrimination" on McDonald's part.

Kempczinski responded in a note viewed by Insider.

"I recently learned that a text message exchange between me and the Mayor of Chicago was made public. The text exchange took place after I had welcomed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to MHQ in April. The preceding day, a shooting at a McDonald's Drive Thru in Homan Square took the life of 7-year old Jaslyn Adams. This tragedy came soon after 13-year-old Adam Toledo was fatally shot by a police officer in Little Village. These horrible deaths were painful for Chicago and our McFamily, made more so by the fact that they were both just kids.

In the text exchange, I thanked Mayor Lightfoot for the visit and reflected on our conversation about the recent tragedies, commenting that "the parents failed those kids." When I wrote this, I was thinking through my lens as a parent and reacted viscerally. But I have not walked in the shoes of Adam's or Jaslyn's family and so many others who are facing a very different reality.

Not taking the time to think about this from their viewpoint was wrong, and lacked the empathy and compassion I feel for these families. This is a lesson that I will carry with me.

As we think about the challenges facing our communities, and the senseless surge in gun violence that is affecting so many children, it is also clear to me that everyone has a role to play.

We're a Chicago company, born and raised. There is so much about our city to make us proud. That doesn't negate that there is also much that needs to be addressed to ensure our best days are ahead of us. And I can't think of a more urgent priority than ensuring these tragedies come to an end. Quite simply, it is on all of us to do better for the children of our communities. I am committed to working with civic leaders and elected officials to understand what that means for McDonald's, and I will be asking all of you to join me in this pursuit. "

Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.