What The Heck Is Grimace Anyway? McDonald’s Manager’s Answer Has People Shook
The manager of a McDonald’s franchise in Canada has revealed the story behind Grimace, the purple pal of longtime mascot Ronald McDonald, and it’s left a lot of people very confused.
Brian Bates, who has worked for the chain for 10 years, casually dropped it into an interview with CBC News over the weekend.
“He is an enormous taste bud, but a taste bud nonetheless,” Bates told the network in an “unofficial” explanation, adding that the character was meant to show that the food tastes good.
McDonald’s has been unusually tight-lipped about the purple creature’s origins over the years. The closest it had come to providing an explanation was a few variations of this tweet, which it has sent out from time to time in response to inquisitive customers:
.@margo_padilla Great question! #Grimace lore says he is the embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud. What do you think? #AskAnArchivist
— McDonald's Corporation (@McDonaldsCorp) October 30, 2014
Grimace, who was actually a villain early on, doesn’t resemble a milkshake. But he does kinda look like he may have been inspired by images of taste buds and papillae:
Twitter users were stunned by the McHistory lesson:
Reeling from this pic.twitter.com/HPw3EueHKB
— Kyle Daly (@dalykyle) September 1, 2021
My entire world view has been upended. I mean, I never knew what the hell Grimace was, but I didn't think it was THIS. https://t.co/tsqwKsILRe
— Marcus Mauney (@mrmauney) September 1, 2021
Grimace can taste with his whole body
— 3-hour Bond film anticipator (@MilesKlee) September 1, 2021
Liked it better when I had no idea what Grimace was https://t.co/tox2bLY242
— Blockhead (@t_wrecks_64) September 1, 2021
This explanation is the midi-chlorians of the fast food extended universe. https://t.co/2ABKYCYllu
— Courtney E. Thompson (@Dr_C_Thompson) September 1, 2021
I’ve always wondered and now I regret finding this out #becarefulwhatyouwishforhttps://t.co/eV1qS7agD2
— renonezero (@renonezero) September 2, 2021
Theoretically, this means that if you were shake Grimace's hand, he would be able to taste you.
*shudders* https://t.co/4VI32UWfEH— Clifton Adcock (@cliftonhowze) September 1, 2021
No. This is not ok. No. https://t.co/d7qklDgIQ0
— Maeve Marsden (@maevemarsden) September 1, 2021
If Grimace is a taste bud meant to show how good the food is why on earth would you name the damn thing after an expression of disgust https://t.co/L51ve89QCV
— ☭Shannihilator the Pastry Wizard☭🌈🌸🍰☭ (@8bitonionring) September 2, 2021
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.