The death of a prominent Chick-fil-A executive has sparked an onslaught of Twitter responses, with many linking the official's passing to the fast food company's recent controversies.
Columbus Georgia's WRBL News 3 reported that Donald A. Perry, the vice president of corporate public relations for Chick-fil-A, died of a heart attack July 27.
"Don was a member of our Chick-fil-A family for nearly 29 years," a company statement published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution read. "He was a well-respected and well-liked media executive in the Atlanta and University of Georgia communities, and we will all miss him."
News of Perry's death, which was picked up by a number of high-profile media outlets, immediately generated heated debate on Twitter, perhaps not surprisingly given Chick-fil-A's proclaimed anti-gay marriage stance, which has been the subject of countless headlines in recent weeks. "Okay, Chick-fil-A protesters, you win," wrote one user. "You killed their head of PR. They're for gay marriage now."
No doubt Perry was aware of what has become a public relations debacle for the Atlanta-based fast food chain, with both marriage equality supporters and opponents responding to the news in equal measure. In fact, he is credited at having released the company's Facebook statement in response to Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's remark that the fast food company supports "the biblical definition of the family unit."
On July 19, Perry responded that "going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena."
View 25 Twitter responses to Donald Perry's death below: