The Highly Unusual Topping That The McDonald's CEO Once Smeared On A Filet-O-Fish

On Tasting Table's ultimate ranking of McDonald's food items, the Filet-O-Fish ranked pretty low. It generally isn't considered the most popular choice at the fast food chain, although the loyalists who love it defend it fiercely. In April 2023, the CEO of McDonald's, Chris Kempczinski, made this menu item even more infamous by posting a video in which he smeared ice cream onto the fish sandwich.

Kempczinski started the video by explaining that he doesn't put tartar sauce on the Filet-O-Fish because he has a special alternative: vanilla ice cream. "Looks the same as tartar sauce," he mused before opening the sandwich and spreading the ice cream onto the fish patty, which was oddly already smeared with ketchup, in another deviation from the standard Filet-O-Fish. The CEO brought the sandwich to his mouth, and just as he was about to take a bite, he looked into the camera and said, "April Fool's."

Lighthearted as the intention behind this prank may have been, the internet didn't really find it funny. "I mean if you're gonna do an April Fool's then you gotta go through with it all the way, eat the whole thing," criticized one commenter under the video, while another plainly stated that "this guy needs to be arrested." Even as a joke, perhaps wasting a perfectly good cone and sandwich was a bit much; if you really don't like the tartar sauce, slather your Filet-O-Fish with Sweet N' Sour sauce instead.

The poorly-received April Fool's video would not be the last time Kempczinski was on the receiving end of sharply worded comments. McDonald's Big Arch burger was among the 10 best new fast food items of March 2026, but its launch was met with a whole lot of online buzz after Kempczinski posted a video of himself taste-testing the burger. He took an oddly small bite of the burger and kept referring to it as "a product." This particular video was not posted as a joke, though, so it belly-flopped even harder than the Filet-O-Fish one. "At that bite rate, his lunch will take two weeks," quipped someone in the comments section of the YouTube clip reposted by TMZ. Another person said, "LMAO He doesn't have anyone fooled. He's not eating the rest of that burger."

That wasn't the final incident, either. Once the Big Arch fiasco went viral, people started digging for other videos of Kempczinski sampling menu items, which he is apparently quite fond of doing. Before long, viewers became convinced that, in one of these taste tests, the CEO had spit out a bite of the Chicken Big Mac into a napkin. One of the commenters rightfully wondered on YouTube, "Why do they keep having him make these commercials?" But be honest, are you not entertained?