IHOP typically serves up piles of flapjacks and bacon on Sunday mornings, but today its Twitter account added an unwelcome garnish of political commentary.
The account retweeted a post by a Caribbean woman going by the Twitter handle poojaslays that takes aim at the Clinton campaign. IHOP has since removed the tweet, and it added a response saying that its account was hacked.
After investigation, we have confirmed that our account was hacked this morning. We appreciate our fans bringing this to our attention.
— IHOP (@IHOP) January 15, 2017
IHOP followers noticed the inexplicable retweet soon after it was posted and attempted to make head or tails of what it meant. Some questioned the legitimacy of IHOP’s hacking claim, because it seemed odd for hackers to break into an account for a single retweet. Others took aim at the political sentiments, interpreting the retweet as affirmation of Bernie Sanders support or socialist leanings.
https://twitter.com/mycoolaugustine/status/820709065202380800
https://twitter.com/ShwahWahWah/status/820708713874870272
https://twitter.com/DankRizzo/status/820721152666566656
https://twitter.com/seanlinecontent/status/820720636272095232
https://twitter.com/IFThunder/status/820710282355994624
https://twitter.com/ThisIsLayne/status/820716522452779013
In an unlikely move, IHOP reveals the I is for Internationale. pic.twitter.com/VlvxHxfDSN
— EL BARTO ANTI-WORK (@ElBartoArmy) January 15, 2017
Poojaslays, meanwhile, seems to be just as confused about the situation as everyone else. She’s not American and doesn’t support any American political party, despite the flood of Americans interpreting her views as pro-Sanders or even pro-Trump.
What she does support is revolutionary socialism and helping Caribbean kids go to school.
https://twitter.com/poojaslays/status/820679564615684096
https://twitter.com/poojaslays/status/820680592035483674
https://twitter.com/poojaslays/status/820683786660810752
https://twitter.com/poojaslays/status/820684840362246144
https://twitter.com/poojaslays/status/820689981832364032
https://twitter.com/poojaslays/status/820698993407782912
https://twitter.com/poojaslays/status/820707272619945984
