A Thorough Timeline Of The 'Rick And Morty' Szechuan Sauce Debacle
If you hopped online at all this weekend, you may have heard about a "Rick and Morty McDonald's Sauce Riot." Whether or not any of that phrase makes sense to you (and why should it?), this timeline lays out exactly how an Adult Swim cartoon caused a massive fast-food fiasco thanks to an unsavory portion of its fanbase.
February 21st, 1980: "Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland is born.
June 19th, 1998: Disney releases "Mulan" in theaters. As part of a Happy Meal toy promotional tie-in with the film, McDonald's releases a limited-release sauce for Chicken McNuggets. The "Mulan SzeChuan teriyaki dipping sauce" is available in participating McDonald's restaurants for the duration of the Mulan promotion before being retired.
December 2nd, 2013: The pilot episode of "Rick and Morty" premieres on Adult Swim.
January 25th, 2017: In a statement to IndieWire and on Twitter, "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon gives some reasons as to why the third season of "Rick and Morty" is coming later than expected. Fans are eager for any and all news.
April 1st, 2017: The first episode of the third season of "Rick and Morty" has a surprise premiere on Adult Swim. The third season's actual airdate is still withheld. In the episode, Rick mentions his love for the McDonald's Szechuan sauce and brings it up again in a manic rant following a twist reveal (spoilers ahead):
April 4th, 2017: McDonald's chef Mike Haracz tweets "I'll see what I can do" in reference to bringing back the Szechuan sauce after a Change.org petition collects close to 20,000 signatures. On the same day, popular YouTube cooking channel "Binging with Babish" debuts an attempt to recreate the sauce from scratch.
May 15, 2017: A fan posts an elaborate hoax video of Szechuan sauce packets complete with a recreated Mulan Happy Meal.
July 29th, 2017: A Reddit user ironically posts a long message that begins with "To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty." Whether or not the post is originally sourced from a real "Rick and Morty" fan, it instantly becomes a meme popular amongst those who question the attitudes of the show's most outspoken fans. After all, it's kind of silly that there's a YouTube video called "Rick and Morty: The Philosophy of Szechuan Sauce" that has over 2 million views.
July 30th, 2017: One day before the official kick-off of the third season, Justin Roiland tweets these images of a package he received from McDonald's, containing a 64oz jug of Szechuan sauce:
August 4th, 2017: McDonald's follows up the earlier stunt by sending out three more 64oz jugs of Szechuan sauce to "Rick and Morty" fans in a giveaway.
August 5th, 2017: One of the giveaway winners, Robert Workman, puts his bottle of Szechuan sauce up for an auction on eBay.
August 10th, 2017: The eBay auction ends. The final bid for the bottle of Szechuan sauce is… $15,530.
August 15th, 2017: After the eBay auction falls through, musician and DJ deadmau5 reveals that he has made an arrangement with Workman to purchase the jug of sauce for an undisclosed amount.
September 12th, 2017: "Binging with Babish" follows up the earlier sauce recreation attempt with the help of a sample from one of the fan giveaway jugs and a "spy photo" of the actual ingredients list.
September 21st, 2017: In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dan Harmon speaks out against an ongoing harassment effort led by fans of "Rick and Morty" against two of show's female writers, Jane Becker and Jessica Gao. Harmon:
It's offensive to me as someone who was born male and white, and still works way harder than them, that there's some white male [fan out there] trying to further some creepy agenda by 'protecting' my work. I've made no bones about the fact that I loathe these people.
September 22nd, 2017: The A.V. Club publishes an article titled "'Rick and Morty's' worst fans don't deserve 'Rick and Morty.'"
September 27th, 2017: McDonald's announces a special event for the debut of their "Buttermilk Crispy Tenders," teasing a then-unnamed limited-release sauce. The promotional event, scheduled for October 7th at participating stores, will also include a giveaway of posters and stickers inspired by McDonald's dipping sauces.
September 29th, 2017: Vice publishes an essay titled "I Love 'Rick and Morty,' and I Hate Its Fans." The "high IQ" memes proliferate.
October 1st, 2017: McDonald's announces that the unidentified sauce for the October 7th Buttermilk Crispy Tenders event is indeed Szechuan sauce. The press release only makes veiled references to "Rick and Morty," as it is not an official partnership between McDonald's and the show's creators. Nonetheless, Justin Roiland tweets about the event.
October 4th, 2017: "Rick and Morty" officially becomes the most popular TV comedy amongst 18- to 34-year-olds in America.
October 7th, 2017: Scores of fans drive long distances and wait in sprawling lines for packets of Szechuan sauce. The event is a near-universal shit-show. Supplies of the sauce and the posters are extremely limited, even in metropolitan areas. Police are called to disperse unruly crowds at multiple McDonald's locations across the country.
October 8th, 2017: Sauceless fans tweet at McDonald's while considering boycotts and weighing their legal options:
Justin Roiland clarifies that nobody responsible for the show was involved with the McDonald's event and advocates against yelling at minimum wage employees over a novelty sauce:
Meanwhile, the rest of the internet is having a field day:
Finally, at 7:28pm EST, McDonald's issues a response where they apologize for the low supply of sauce. This winter the sauce will return at more restaurants and in greater quantities:
This is where the tale of the "Rick and Morty" McDonald's sauce debacle ends for now. Hopefully, when McDonald's brings the sauce back again, there won't be a good reason to update this timeline. Please, enjoy your chicken nugget dipping sauces responsibly and don't harass McDonald's staffers or the people who make the TV shows you like.
