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On 25 January 2017, RedStateWatcher.com published an article misleadingly titled Popular Restaurant Chain Offering to Fund Planned Parenthood with Portion of Every Sale. Readers predictably inferred from the headline that the Chili's restaurant chain was fund[ing] Planned Parenthood ... with every sale, prompting an avalanche of angry social media comments on the chain's Facebook page. Many articles popular on Facebook are viewed only in news feeds, meaning that many users may have seen the headline but did not read the underlying article: The article cited an anti-abortion blog but didn't link to any official information from Chili's announcing or confirming the purported Planned Parenthood initiative. None of the versions we could find specified the origin of the claim, and the only substantiation appeared to be a screenshot of a since-deleted post: We contacted Chili's media relations department for clarification about whether the chain was donating 15 percent of every check to Planned Parenthood in two states, or in any location. In a statement we received from Chili’s® Grill & Bar, a representative for the chain explained: The Chili's chain at no point had a plan to donate 15 percent of every check to Planned Parenthood. Rather, a single independent franchisee planned to host a Chili's Give Back event in support of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, an initiative that Chili's and the franchisee canceled after myriad objections. The backlash was similar to that stemming from prior claims that Olive Garden funded Planned Parenthood (false), and that Macy's had stopped funding the organization (unproven on both counts).
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