The McDonald’s CEO Blamed His Tiny Bite Fiasco on His Mother 

Moms really do put up with a lot from their kids, don’t they? When moms have younger kids or teenagers, they’re the first person they blame when things aren’t going right: A late meal, a missed sports practice, an apparent inability to figure out exactly why you’re so upset. Apparently, though, that doesn’t go away when you’re firmly in your adulthood with kids yourself and the CEO of one of the biggest businesses in the world. That’s if Chris Kempczinski’s recent interview with The Wall Street Journal is anything to go by, anyway.

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Yep, that’s right, folks: The person who caused such a viral stir in the food world a couple of months back with his slightly bizarre taste-test of the new Big Arch burger has blamed it all on…his mom. 

The Big Arch Drama: A Recap

The Big Arch Drama, which we will henceforth be calling it, kept us all very entertained in the first few months of 2026 – but sadly for Kempczinski, it was at his expense. It all began when the McDonald’s CEO recorded a video where he took a bite out of the new Big Arch burger, in an effort to demonstrate how good it was. Unfortunately, everything about the video felt off: Kempczinski’s delivery was stilted, his bite was comically small, and his reaction of “that is so good” made us feel, frankly, that the burger was anything but so good.

The internet promptly got to work making this faux pas of a video intensely viral, and pretty much every president or CEO of the major fast food chains responded in kind with their own videos or statements. From Wendy’s, to Burger King, to Costco, C-suite individuals far and wide released their own social media clips, taking potshots at Kempczinski. We thought it was all over – and then, he responded. 

Thanks, Mom!

In his sit-down interview with the WSJ, seen via Instagram, Kempczinski said the lessons he learnt from his mom in his youth might be the root of it all. “I blame it all on my mom, because she told me, ‘Don’t talk with your mouth full.’ And I think probably in that case, I should have just said, ‘you know what? To hell with it. I’m gonna go talk with my mouth full,” he stated. 

To be fair to Kempczinski, all of this was delivered in what was clearly jest, and he seems to be pretty good-natured about the whole going wildly viral thing. He also sees the positives for McDonald’s as a whole. “For me, it was one of those things where it’s great that people are talking about the Big Arch, and I think when you go on to social media in general, you have to have a thick skin,” he said. We’re sure, though, that Kempczinski is hoping that this is all gonna blow over soon – but if his Mom wades in with a video of her own, then it could start up all over again.