Inside The NBA will arrive on ESPN next season, but they have some kinks to work out before analysts Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley start making appearances on ESPN Deportes.
After that news was announced, some fans joked that Inside the NBA could land on ESPN’s Spanish-language channel, something that O’Neal and Barkley joked about, albeit incorrectly.
“How do you say fat ass college students? How do you say fat ass? El Pollo Loco,” O’Neal said to Barkley.
“El Pollo Loco, that’s a good restaurant,” replied Barkley. “They got some good chicken noodle soup boy.”
There are a few problems there. First, El Pollo Loco (“The Crazy Chicken”) definitely doesn’t translate to “fat ass.” Second, the Mexican fast-casual chain does not have chicken noodle soup on their menu.
A few days later, the restaurant decided to have a little fun with the faux pas and also turn it into a marketing opportunity.
“It has come to our attention that on a recent episode of NBA Tip-Off on TNT, Shaquille O’Neal incorrectly translated our name,” the statement read. “While we don’t condone the language, we couldn’t stay mad at The Diesel. To show there are no hard feelings, we’re donating 100 El Pollo Loco meals to the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, which works to create pathways for underserved youth to help them achieve their full potential.
“Our legal team also asked us to clarify that while were thrilled to hear Sir Charles Barkley is a fan of our soup, we don’t serve chicken noodle. We think he meant chicken tortilla soup. We’ll get some bowls of that over to you ASAP, Chuck.”
a message for @shaq & @charleswbarkley pic.twitter.com/IiZIVpNnQV
— El Pollo Loco (@ElPolloLoco) November 26, 2024
The Inside The NBA crew responded to the donation on Tuesday’s edition of the show, with Barkley again sharing his admiration for the chicken tortilla soup.
“I eat there all the time Ernie,” said Barkley. “That chicken tortilla soup is flat-out amazing.”
El Pollo Loco responds to a comedy of errors by Shaq and Charles Barkley about the restaurant with a donation to the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation pic.twitter.com/QtDDzdaeLQ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 27, 2024
It’s a pretty genius move by El Pollo Loco to capitalize on O’Neal and Barkley’s discussion. Case in point, we just wrote this whole article about them.
The question now is, will Sir Charles have a Keith Lee-like effect on their chicken tortilla soup?
[El Pollo Loco on X, Awful Announcing on X]
