McDonald’s Upside-Down Flag Seen As Reaction To 2012 Election Results

Brooke County, WV – A McDonald’s restaurant earned a fair share of controversy Wednesday when an American flag was shown to he hanging upside down early in the morning, thought initially to be a protest of the results of the 2012 election.

Many wondered whether or not the McDonald’s upside-down flag was a deliberate political message. Turns out, the upside-down flag wasn’t intentional disrespect, but rather a timely, accidental coincidence.

A local reporter for NEWS9 had called the McDonald’s restaurant earlier Wednesday to ask why the flag was flown upside-down, usually taken as a sign of distress. Reportedly, the employee who answered the phone said that the flag was flown that way on purpose.

Later, a person identifying herself as a manager of that particular McDonald’s called to clarify her employee’s comments.

“I just want to say: I am a manager at that McDonald’s. The flag was to be flown at half-staff as per McDonald’s Corporation. As for it being flown upside down–it was a complete and total accident. No one at our store would purposely fly the flag upside down. Our flag pole is actually broken, and we are unable to move the flag.”

Later, an email was sent to The Huffington Post for further clarification:

“Unfortunately, a flag cable broke and during the process of trying the fix the flag, it was inadvertently turned upside down. It wasn’t noticed that the flag was upside down until a customer inquired about it. We are working on fixing the flag right now. It’s important to note that this was an accident, not intentional.”

Reporters later returned to the scene and said that the flag pole had apparently been fixed.