Shake Shack ‘NYPD poisoning’ bites ex-POTUS candidate Yang due to poorly timed Twitter thread

Former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang inadvertently put his foot in it when he started a seemingly innocuous Twitter thread comparing US burger joints – just as news broke of NYPD officers being poisoned.

The former entrepreneur and candidate-turned-commentator asked his 1.5 million followers to help settle a debate he was having with his sons, and to choose between the Five Guys and Shake Shack fast-food outlets. 

However, Yang seemingly hadn’t checked his feed before tweeting, as the news had just broken that three NYPD officers, assigned to police ongoing protests in the city, were hospitalized after their milkshakes were spiked with a “toxic substance” while they were dining at a Shake Shack restaurant. 

Needless to say, some on Twitter couldn’t resist the opportunity to skewer Yang for the poorly timed tweet. Comedian and author Tim Young wrote: “Well... Five Guys sometimes gives you a full bag of fries, and Shake Shack tries to murder cops... so I’m gonna go with Five Guys.”

Yang himself responded shortly afterwards, lamenting the fact that, in 2020 at least, even a simple debate about burger chains could quickly become the “darkest sh*t imaginable.”

“Oh no – this thread was started before the awful news of the poisoning of several officers at a Shake Shack in NYC tonight. It looks like they’ll be all right. I hope they catch the responsible party quickly and prosecute to the full extent of the law. Poisoning is reprehensible,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the NYPD officers involved are expected to make a full recovery, and an investigation into the incident has been launched.

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