Reba McEntire Is The New Colonel Sanders And People Are Conflicted

When I think of fried chicken, I think Colonel Sanders. And Colonel Sanders is the epitome of manly ruggedness, with his bolo tie, white linen suit, tiny mustache, and old Southern manners. So, it's a bit confusing for some that his characters is now being played by Reba McEntire in drag.

It's not clear if Reba is permanently on the job, or if she's just there to promote their new flavor Smoky Mountain BBQ, but this version of the Colonel sure throws a helluva hoedown.

"Nothing to see here, folks. Nope, nothin’ at all. Just the same old Colonel with a new flavor of fried chicken," writes KFC's official account.

Reba teased her transformation on her own Twitter account — slyly posting this photo without a caption — because some images require zero words to be perfectly comprehended by their audiences.

But not everyone is down with a woman Colonel Sanders. Is it sexism? Nostalgia for Rob Lowe's portrayal? Horror at the uncanny valleyness of Reba's costume? Disappointment that it's taken so long for KFC to catch up with the 21st century?

"Always thought we'd have a woman president before we had a woman Colonel Sanders tbh," said one person on Twitter. Another added, "Please bring back Norm Mcdonald as Col Sanders, he was awesome."

But i'm happy to report that many, many more people are enjoying this change:

According to Time, Reba thinks the whole stunt is finger lickin' good.

“I thought the transformation was really funny,” McEntire told reporters. “I got a big kick out of it.”

I get a big kick out of Reba McEntire, so if she wants to sell me fried chicken, I won't get angry about it.