Darrell Hammond is not happy with Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The Saturday Night Live announcer and actor said in a recent interview on Sirius XM’s Opie Radio that he was “played” by the fast-food chicken giant, which he claimed led him to believe he would be the long-term pitchman for the company, portraying founder Colonel Harland David Sanders.
“I felt like a fool,” Hammond said.
He was later replaced by another SNL veteran, Norm Macdonald, in what is now a running joke of actor switches. Hammond says he missed the joke, which he made note of while the current actor playing Sanders, Jim Gaffigan, was on the same Opie Radio episode.
“I’m really upset someone didn’t tell me that [I would be replaced],” said Hammond. “To build me up like, you’re going to bring back the Colonel, he’s an American icon … and then there’s five others.”
Hammond spent time with the Sanders family and read books — which he says KFC sent him — on the restaurant founder in order to portray him as well as possible, he said. (KFC didn’t respond to a request for comment.)
On Tuesday, Macdonald jumped into the conversation, saying he thought KFC should have stuck with Hammond.
“In my opinion, KFC made a big mistake replacing Darrell Hammond. Darrell disappeared into the role and his Colonel was authentic and perfect,” Macdonald tweeted.
Gaffigan seemed caught off-guard by the conversation and Hammond’s resentment toward the company.
“That’s really interesting because it was presented to me as this short-run thing,” Gaffigan told Hammond. “I think my contract was five or six months.”
Hammond said he does not have any interest in reprising the role in order to bring the current commercial campaign full circle.
“That was the last time I get emotionally invested in my work,” Hammond said of the Sanders family praising his portrayal. “When you play me like that, when all along you knew what was coming, I don’t see the point in it.”
In my opinion, KFC made a big mistake replacing Darrell Hammond. Darrell disappeared into the role and his Colonel was authentic and perfect
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) June 21, 2016
