A BUCKET OF ASSHOLERY

[HairOfTheDog]

I still don't know what to believe and won't until an official source verifies the facts. So far, all we've heard is unsubstantiated claims.

Grams raised my eyebrows early on when she kept using "discrimination" is her verbiage and when, in one interview, she said how sad it was that Victoria was discriminated against because she was already embarrassed. Then, after the story real blew up, she said in another story that Victoria had never been embarrassed before the KFC incident (putting liability for mental anguish on KFC).

Even though I believed from the get-go that grams MIGHT be lying or misrepresenting what happened, I did assume that she was telling the truth about she and Victoria visiting a KFC on the day in question. If grams is lying and they never even went to KFC that day, she's a derf. She at least should have made sure she was on surveillance ordering some mashed taters and sweat tea before floating her tale.

Anyway, on the one hand, I want grams to be telling the truth because I don't like the idea of her exploiting Victoria to scam people (even is she tries to claim it was for Victoria's benefit and out of desperation). On the other hand, I hope grams is lying because I don't wanna believe that a suffering little girl would really be treated so shabbily. Guess we'll find out the real deal next week.

[QueenBee]

(Well, it ain't over till the fat lady sings. )

Well, do not look at THIS fat lady to do any singing about this one.

[Cutz]

As I said before I don't trust the family from the git. I'd easily believe that the g-ma repeatedly asked the employees to make other people leave because they were staring at her granddaughter, the final time the employees said if it bothered her so much maybe she should leave, and then the family acted as if they'd been thrown out of the KFC and posted how awful they were on Facebook to encourage donations. Entirely plausible. However, media frenzies have their own volition; the national coverage and exponential donations aren't their doing. I don't think the family is using the girl and planned it all out, but I already considered them bad caregivers considering they let the girl get mauled.

Either way the girl will now never forget the KFC ordeal. Even if KFC had just asked them to leave out of the blue, they could have done it out of earshot of the girl and downplayed the whole event. I'd call it shitty parent icing on a shitty parent cake.

[HairOfTheDog]

However, media frenzies have their own volition; the national coverage and exponential donations aren't their doing. I don't think the family is using the girl and planned it all out...

The national coverage and the exponential donations aren't whose doing, Cutz?

The family started the GoFundMe page and the grandma agreed to the media interviews regarding the story -- it was the family's intentional doing, whether their story turns out to be true or not.

I don't think the media deserves all of the credit (or, possibly, blame) for the national coverage and the fund-raising success -- the media increased the family's exposure with the family's active participation.

[Maggot]

Cutz is kinda long winded.

[HairOfTheDog]

Cutz is kinda long winded.

There oughta be a law against long-winded comments; sweet nothings is where it's really at!!

Seriously, I like detailed articulate posts that make a point when it comes to serious topics; I read them all.

The only long posts that I don't like/read are the ones where the poster is incomprehensible or clearly just blowing smoke outta his/her ass.

[Duchess]

Cutz is kinda long winded.

I once told him that he reminded me of someone.

I did say I thought his posts bordered on brilliant so that's a compliment to the other person as well.

Heh.

[Cutz]

Cutz is kinda long winded.

I can be. Yes.

[HairOfTheDog]

Something smells fishy here.

Your nose knows, Mags...

KFC emailed an official press release to CNN tonight.

Snip:
After the family's claim became public, KFC conducted the two investigations.

"Neither revealed any evidence that the incident occurred and we consider the investigation closed," said the company's statement released Tuesday. "We are honoring our commitment to make a $30,000 donation to assist with Victoria's medical bills. We hope everyone keeps Victoria in their thoughts and prayers. She will certainly be in ours."

The CEO of the fund-raising webpage GoFundMe, Brad Damphousse, issued a statement Tuesday suspending the campaign and offering to refund donations. "In lieu of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the 'Victoria's Victories' online fundraising effort, GoFundMe has temporarily suspended the campaign until the full truth is made clear," the statement said.

The family-maintained Facebook page called Victoria's Victories was taken down Tuesday...

Despite repeated calls by CNN, neither the family nor the family's lawyer could be reached for comment.

Full story: http://us.cnn.com/2014/06/24/us/kfc-inci...?hpt=hp_c2

[Duchess]

So, not only did that Gramma let a little kid get mauled by her dogs she compounds her shit for brains mistake by lying and stealing. Yeah, I view the pleas for money as stealing. She's a POS for using that kid like that.

[ramseycat]

That is despicable. That poor little girl has real injuries and will suffer a great deal thru treatment and surgeries. If these people needed money to help with medical expenses, why not be honest? Now they are going to get nothing but the $30k from KFC and it will be the girl that suffers for their actions. Again.

[Duchess]

Exactly.

People have made me very cynical. People lie. Period. People will even lie about death & dying, lie about sickness and a host of other things. If I cared, I'd probably be horribly bothered by it, as it is I just expect that kind of bs from people.

[cannongal]

That was a quick week. I'm a bit surprised that GoFundMe had suspended the account and is handing out refunds. If I read their pricing right, they collect 7.9% of the total plus 30 cents per donation-they're losing out on at least $13,000 in fees.

I was scanning through some of the comments, before the facebook page came down-about half the comments indicated that they didn't care that KFC was a hoax, they were still glad to have donated to help the little girl.

I wonder if gofundme is going to let them start again. I bet some people would still donate to it.

[Carsman]

That was a quick week. I'm a bit surprised that GoFundMe had suspended the account and is handing out refunds. If I read their pricing right, they collect 7.9% of the total plus 30 cents per donation-they're losing out on at least $13,000 in fees.

I was scanning through some of the comments, before the facebook page came down-about half the comments indicated that they didn't care that KFC was a hoax, they were still glad to have donated to help the little girl.

I wonder if gofundme is going to let them start again. I bet some people would still donate to it.

Agree, people are donating to the girl's huge pending medical bills, not to the hoax itself.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm glad KFC didn't wait another week to release full details after some of them were leaked -- it would just have snowballed the story and speculation even more. I wonder if they gave the family a chance to back down or retract on their own first and saw that was gonna happen.

I don't know people's motivations for donating. Some might have been compelled to help a little girl with medical bills regardless of how she got her injuries or anything that happened afterwards. Others might have done so because they were outraged by the alleged discrimination -- the alleged discrimination certainly got more response and coverage than the maulling and its impact on Victoria and her family. I'd not expect my money back if I donated, but I'd sure wanna know who was managing the funds and an assurance the money wasn't going towards anything but Victoria's medical expenses, period.

Anyway, grandma's still not backing down from her story.

Snip:
As part of its investigation, Hannon said it spent hundreds of hours reviewing surveillance video, interviewing employees and hired the outside investigator. The company said it would reach out to the child’s family for additional discussions.

Jackson attorney Bill Kellum, in a statement Tuesday afternoon on behalf of the child’s family, said Victoria’s grandmother, Kelly Mullins, stands by her claim of what happened at the restaurant.

“Victoria’s family appreciates the actions of KFC in their investigation of this matter. They look forward to assisting KFC in what we hope will be an ongoing investigation,” he said.

“It is deeply disappointing that other parties have taken opportunity to attack Victoria through social and news media outlets. Victoria is an innocent child with very real physical and emotional scars. The focus of her family has always been, and will always be on Victoria and making her whole again,” Kellum said.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/24/...-to-leave/

That last paragraph makes me believe that grandma and the family attorney are the ones filling the bucket of assholery in this case. Has anyone (other parties?) really been attacking Victoria over her family's apparent deception? Looks more like the family and their attorney are trying to buffer or shield the responsible adults from backlash using alleged discrimination against Victoria, again. Assholes. IMO.

[cannongal]

“It is deeply disappointing that other parties have taken opportunity to attack Victoria through social and news media outlets. Victoria is an innocent child with very real physical and emotional scars. The focus of her family has always been, and will always be on Victoria and making her whole again,” Kellum said.[/i]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/24/...-to-leave/

That last paragraph makes me believe that grandma and the family attorney are the ones filling the bucket of assholery in this case. Has anyone (other parties?) really been attacking Victoria over her family's apparent deception? Looks more like the family and their attorney are trying to buffer or shield the responsible adults from backlash using alleged discrimination against Victoria, again. Assholes. IMO.

I Don't know of any news media saying anything other than the KFC story was a hoax, but some of the comments on the Facebook page were indicating that the dog mauling was made up, too. Other comments called the whole family scum, and said Victoria should be placed in child services.

[HairOfTheDog]

Thanks, cannongal.

Those comments don't surprise me -- everything the family claims/claimed will be subject to doubt now. Understandably, IMO.

I still think it's disingenuous and cowardly for the attorney to label any of those comments attacks on Victoria; they're clearly aimed at the adult family members, IMO. I'm interpreting those comments more like opinions that Victoria is a victim of her own family, not KFC or the dog.

(Personally, I don't question that the mauling occurred.)

[cannongal]

The Mauling itself, most definitely happened. There are news reports & arrest records (Grampa & his girlfriend), that prove that.

Reading through the comments did crack me up at times. It totally baffles me how quick people are to jump on a bandwagon.

Although I do agree with you about the lawyer, part of his job is to try and spin things in his clients favor (I'm assuming he represents the grandmother that made the claim) . Since the page was called "victoria's Victories" any public bashing on it-even if it's directed at the adults- could be stretched to called 'attacks on Victoria'.

Keeping the story on Victoria herself, and off of the grandmother has to be some sort of defense tactic.

[Maggot]

It infuriates me that people do things like this they are the scum off the bottom of a cow pond. It only makes it harder for the ones that are really harmed in ways like this.

[QueenBee]

I am hearing, though not confirming, that KFC is still planning to pony up the money they promised. Good marketing, for their part. I just hope they set it up in an unbreakable trust that ONLY gets paid directly to the medical doctors and hospitals. I would not allow any member of the family or their representative touch it.
On an interesting, but not surprising, side note, the Victoria's Victories page set up on FB by the family has been taken down.