(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

The dust is settling over the great Szechuan sauce debacle of 2017, McDonald’s spectacular failure of a promotional event. Last Saturday, the fast-food giant tried to capitalize on Rick And Morty fans’ obsession with Rick’s dipping-sauce obsession, but either didn’t anticipate the overwhelming response—presumably because no one in the marketing department bothered to so much as glance at Twitter in the days before the promo—or figured that people who love a cartoon wouldn’t get in a snit if they were ultimately denied said sauce. They were wrong on both counts.


In the cold light of another sauce-less day, some fans have threatened class-action suits against McDonald’s for the emotional duress of traveling, in some cases across state lines, to compete for one packet of a limited number that reportedly varied from 5 to 20. (The employee hoarding theories will have to be taken up with HR.) And while that’s a bit much, even Rick And Morty co-creator Justin Roiland wasn’t thrilled with the way it all went down, which he posted about on Twitter.


Roiland clarified that the show had nothing to do with the stunt, and that he wasn’t “happy” with how McDonald’s ran the whole thing. He also urged fans to “please be cool to employees it’s not their fault,” advice that really shouldn’t need stating, especially since we’re talking about a mix of ketchup and teriyaki sauce.