Fast food chain Wendy’s has not apologized for trolling pop singer Katy Perry for her space ride via its official X account, but it did say it “has a ton of respect for” her.
The six women who made up the all-female flight crew have been getting mixed reviews ever since they boarded Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission on Monday for an 11-minute ride. Perry, TV personality Gayle King, and Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez were among the women who took the flight, which they and many media outlets insisted was of historic significance.
But there’s also been pushback, with members of the public and some celebrities saying the space ride was nothing more than regular space tourism with a female-heavy roster. Wendy’s social media account got in on the jokes.
The X account Pop Crave announced on Monday, “Katy Perry has returned from space,” prompting the people running Wendy’s social media accounts to reply, “Can we send her back.”
Can we send her back
— Wendy’s (@Wendys) April 15, 2025
Another post on Monday shared from the Wendy’s account said, “When we said women in stem this isn’t what we meant.”
The posts got a lot of laughs from followers and some criticism. One source who is “close to the situation” told People that Wendy’s should issue Perry an apology. “This wasn’t harmless banter, this was a billion-dollar brand using its platform to publicly demean a woman,” the source told the outlet, adding that “when billion-dollar brands join in, it’s irresponsible.”
Wendy’s responded, but not with an apology. People received a statement from the popular fast food brand saying: “We always bring a little spice to our socials, but Wendy’s has a ton of respect for Katy Perry and her out-of-this-world-talent.”
Perry hasn’t addressed any of the criticism publicly, but King responded to the haters, claiming it was sexist and “disrespectful” to criticize them.
“So I wish people would do more due diligence. And then my question is, have y’all been to space? Go to space or go to Blue Origin and see what they do … and then come back and say, ‘This is a terrible thing,’” King said in part.
She continued, “You never see a man, a male astronaut, who’s going up in space and they say, ‘Oh, he took a ride.’ … It’s always referred to as a flight or a journey, so I feel that’s a little disrespectful to what the mission was and the work that Blue Origin does.”
