A picture authentically shows two overweight, gun-toting white men in camouflage clothing ordering food, possibly at a Chick-fil-A restaurant.
A rumor circulating online claims a photo shows two overweight men wearing camouflage clothing while carrying multiple firearms inside a chicken-themed, fast-food restaurant, possibly Chick-fil-A.
For example, on Sept. 24, 2024, X user @theliamnissan posted (archived) the picture, saying, “Oh, don’t mind Randy and Clarence. They just got back from three tours of duty in Whitemanistan.”
However, the truth was someone generated the photo with the help of an artificial-intelligence (AI) tool. In other words, the picture was fake.
Users Shared the Fake Photo Across Social Media
In another example of a user reposting the fake picture, @CalltoActivism on X posted (archived) the photo with the caption, “What do you notice about these two 2nd Amendment advocates who brought their guns to buy fast food?”
Other users posted the same picture on 9GAG.com, Facebook, iFunny.co, Imgur, Instagram, Reddit and Threads. Some of the captions users featured with their posts included “And a Diet Coke,” “Trump’s MAGA America,” “Frick and Frack…. couch potatoes carrying guns – the food warriors,” “Gravy Seals,” “Tactical Santa and his brother, Clarence,” “And people wonder why Europeans are scared of Americans” and “Meal Team Six.”
According to a reverse-image search and Google search results, the popular American progressive Facebook page The Other 98% also shared the picture but later deleted the post. That post’s caption originally read, “Nothing says alpha male like being so insecure you have to wear three assault rifles to order a #6 Value Meal.”
7 Signs that AI Generated the Picture
We previously published guides with tips both for identifying AI-generated images and executing reverse-image searches. Regarding the former, inconsistencies with the number of fingers on a hand or the appearance of a person’s mouth can sometimes be clues of AI manipulation in a picture.
In the case of the fake photo showing the “Meal Team Six” duo ordering at the chicken joint, signs indicating someone generated the image with AI included the following: no words appeared legible on the menus or cash register displays; sandwiches in the menu photos appeared to repeat; at least one of the rifles appeared to have two muzzles; inconsistent floor tile patterns; customers looked to be standing in the kitchen area; the man on the right side showed a large beard with an oddly bright and blurry appearance; and the red cup on the counter appeared loosely based on the Chick-fil-A logo but did not square with its real-life counterpart.
We will update this story if we learn more about the creator of the picture or uncover any other details about this matter.
For further reading, we previously reported about another picture purportedly showing former U.S. President Donald Trump and gunman Thomas Crooks planning the July 2024 Trump assassination attempt.