Late last night, some readers tipped us to this photo of a Wendy’s restaurant that supposedly had posted a sign saying “We Stand With Chick fil-A,” which we assume refers to that company president’s stance against same-sex marriage and not the restaurant chain’s insistence on having pickles on its sandwiches. Given the sheer number of similar fakes floating around the Internet — they even have their own Snopes page — we thought it was worth checking into with Wendy’s HQ.

In an e-mail to Consumerist this morning, Wendy’s head of PR called these particular photos “Totally false. They’ve been photoshopped.”

Okay, then… you might want to tell the folks at WBTV in North Carolina, who found the actual Wendy’s in question.

The Wendy’s is apparently in Columbia, SC, and the sign has since been taken down. But the North Carolina-based owner of the franchise confirmed to WBTV that it is indeed a bona fide sign and not a prank.

He also says that more than one of his franchises had the sign posted.

In a statement — one that Wendy’s still hasn’t sent to Consumerist, in spite of repeated attempts, the chain explains:

This is one independent franchisee’s personal opinion. We are proud to serve customers of varied races, backgrounds, cultures and sexual orientation, with different beliefs and values… Bearing that in mind, this franchisee has decided to remove the messages from his restaurant signs.

While Chick fil-A supporters and detractors continue to draw battle lines, we feel bad for the chain’s many employees who probably just want to get paid a decent wage and probably never thought that working at a fast food chicken joint would put them in the middle of a heated public debate.

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