McDonald's Deletes Trump Tweet, says Twitter Account Compromised

McDonald's Corp said on Thursday its official Twitter account had been compromised after it quickly deleted a tweet sent from the company's handle slamming U.S. President Donald Trump.

"Twitter notified us that our account was compromised. We deleted the tweet, secured our account and are now investigating this," McDonald's spokeswoman Terri Hickey said in a statement.

The tweet, sent from @McDonaldsCorp on Thursday morning and since removed, read: "@realdonaldtrump You are actually a disgusting excuse of a President and we would love to have @BarackObama back, also you have tiny hands."

Trump did not respond to McDonald's on Twitter.

The tweet caused a sensation in Twitter, where users shared copies of the deleted tweet and offered jokes and comments.

Vanessa Veasley and other users speculated that Trump supporters could launch a boycott of the chain, as they threatened to do after Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz vowed to hire 10,000 refugees after Trump's first executive order temporarily banning refugees from certain countries.

"McDonald's already deleted the tweet? lol Well at least Trump supporters can finally boycott something they can actually afford,” Veasley (@VanessaVeasley) wrote.

Other users praised the fast-food chain, which has been fighting to reverse two straight years of customer traffic declines.

"Suddenly I want a Big Mac, well done @McDonalds,” tweeted Shay Steward Bouley (@blackgirlinmain).

Trump, one of the more fast-food friendly presidents in recent history, tweeted pictures of himself eating fast food during the U.S. election campaign. A 2002 McDonald's ad featured Trump and the chain's Grimace mascot promoting McDonald's since-discontinued Big N' Tasty burger for $1.

(Reporting Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Gina Cherelus in New York and Sweta Singh and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Meredith Mazzilli)