It’s the Internet-age version of “Well we didn’t want it anyway.” The family who claimed their 3-year-old daughter was asked to leave a KFC because of the scars on her face now claim to have “unequivocally rejected” the $30,000 donation originally offered by the chicken chain “because we didn’t feel it was appropriate to accept it after everything KFC has done.”

Of course, “everything KFC has done” includes conducting an internal investigation that turned up no evidence that the little girl and her grandmother ever came into the restaurant in question, which would make it a bit difficult for store employees to ask them to leave.

Regardless of the lack of evidence to back up the grandmother’s story that she and the 3-year-old, who has facial scarring as a result of a recent dog attack, were indeed told to leave, the girl’s mother “maintains that what she said happened at the KFC is true,” the family’s attorney tells the Clarion Ledger.

The first cracks in the grandmother’s story came when, after the alleged incident became national news, the family couldn’t consistently name the location of the store where it had supposedly occurred. Then a local newspaper spoke to several anonymous sources who flat-out denied the grandmother’s story — not just her version of it, but that the incident had ever happened at all.

Shortly thereafter, the franchisee who owns the location in question stated publicly that a review of security footage and receipts from the store and found no evidence that the grandmother and the little girl had even visited the restaurant.

Meanwhile, the public that had rushed to support the little girl and her family was turning against them. Some of the people who pledged money to help with the girl’s medical bills began canceling their donations.

“With everything that’s happened, we just didn’t feel right about accepting their money,” said the lawyer, who claims he suggested that KFC donate the money to a foundation for the plastic surgeon who agreed to donate his services for the little girl.

Even with the backlash, there is still more than $100,000 in a GoFundMe account that will soon be released to the family. Their lawyer is attempting to quell concerns that the money will be wasted.

“The family is committed to having the money put in a discretionary trust account for Victoria with a third-party, non-family member designated as the trustee,” he explains.

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