- The Times was profiling voters’ views on the race between Trump and Harris.
- One of those profiled was Anna Ayala, a 58-year-old Democrat who voted for Trump.
- Ayala is a convicted felon who once put a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili.
A New York Times profile about voters skeptical of Kamala Harris was mocked for including a woman who planted a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili.
The old grey lady posted a snapshot where voters were after Harris essentially replaced Joe Biden As the Democrat nominated against Donald Trump.
One of the people they interviewed was a 58-year-old “registered Democrat” named Anna Ayala, who said she would vote for Trump because “the border situation is out of control.”
The newspaper had to retract these statements later Social networks exposed that this Anna Ayala served two prison sentences, including one related to a strange incident in 2005 in which her finger was cut off.
The mother, who has a long history of filing lawsuits, was released from prison after serving four years for the gruesome Wendy’s chili fingers case in 2005.
The New York Times was mocked for interviewing Anna Ayala without realizing that she had served four years in prison for planting a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili.
The bizarre scam attracted worldwide attention after Ayala dropped the 1 1/2-inch section of her ring finger into her fast-food chili bowl.
It was revealed that Ayala’s husband, Jaime Plascencia, had purchased the finger for $100 from a co-worker who lost it in an accident. He then took it home, where Ayala cooked it before depositing it in his food on March 24, 2005.
Wendy’s claimed it lost $21 million in business because of the false accusations. Ayala served only four years of the nine she was originally sentenced to.
In 2013, Ayala was sentenced to two more years, this time for lying about a shooting involving her son.
The so-called Chilean Finger Lady was arrested in October of that year after telling police that two men had shot her son in the ankle.
Her son, Guadalupe Reyes, accidentally shot himself with a gun he was not supposed to have because he was on probation for a felony robbery conviction.
Ayala lied to avoid going to prison for being a criminal in possession of a firearm.
Reyes also received two years in prison for the same charge.
The Old Gray Lady posted a snapshot of the state of voters after Harris essentially replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee against Donald Trump
The newspaper had to retract these claims after social media revealed that this Anna Ayala served two prison terms, including one related to the bizarre incident in 2005.
Ayala fabricated detailed accounts of two men “shooting” her 26-year-old son outside their home in San Jose, California..
Junior Reyes told them he had been attacked by a couple of men “for no apparent reason.”
After she and her son mixed up their stories, police arrested them both in February.
Ayala was charged with being an accessory to a felony and filing a false police report.
As a convicted felon, Ayala is not allowed to vote in any federal elections, prompting the Times to publish a retraction the day the story was published.
“The Times removed a voter’s comments in an earlier version of this article after learning that the person had been convicted in an extortion scheme in which he made fraudulent claims,” they wrote.
The newspaper has since removed all mention of Ayala’s comments.
The original Times story highlighted how Harris had bridged the gap left by her boss Joe Biden when he decided to leave the campaign.