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Rob Lowe’s Colonel Sanders Is an Homage to … Colonel Sanders (and Lowe’s Grandfather)

Mission Control Colonel, reporting for duty. Photo: YouTube/KFC

About a year ago, someone rather brilliant in the Kentucky Fried Chicken marketing division (or the KFCMD, if you will) came up with a great idea to refresh the age-old persona of everyone’s favorite extra-crispy spokesperson, Colonel Sanders: Instead of having one actor portray the Southern gentleman, a cavalcade of stars would take on the iconic role in turn. Since then, everyone from Darrell Hammond to Vincent Kartheiser has donned the white suit, and today the bolo tie was passed along to none other than Rob Lowe. In an announcement issued via social media, the fast-food giant unveiled Lowe’s “Mission Commander Colonel Sanders” a version of the colonel who wants to launch a chicken sandwich into space, or whatever. (But, importantly, does not have a very convincing Southern accent. Ahem.)

And in a rather charming, Rob Lowe–ish fashion, Lowe released his own statement about donning the Sanders get-up, saying his grandfather, who was once president of the Restaurant Association in Ohio, had taken Lowe to meet the Colonel himself when Lowe was a boy. He took the role, he says, as “a nice homage to both Colonel Sanders and to my grandfather.” Which is rather sweet, until you consider the Inception-like notion of becoming Colonel Sanders in homage to … Colonel Sanders. Then the whole thing just becomes a chicken eating its own crispy, delicious tail.

Rob Lowe’s Colonel Sanders Is an Homage to … Colonel Sanders