KFC Bought Colonel Sanders A DJ Slot At Ultra Music Festival In Miami

Brands are no strangers to music festivals. These days, the sea of pop-up booths, sponsored stages and branded content almost feel like prerequisites to the major music festival experience. While many certainly expect a branded presence at these events, few expect that presence to be on the main stage literally performing.

That, however, was the case on Friday night at Ultra Music Festival. Ultra, the Miami EDM festival now in its 21st year, has featured such headlining acts as Avicii, Tiesto, and The Chemical Brothers. In recent years, acts like Afrojack, Major Lazer, and The Chainsmokers have been stars of the show.

But this year’s festival featured a somewhat unlikely newcomer: Colonel Sanders, the now-deceased founder turned mascot of KFC.

https://twitter.com/TheFestiveOwl/status/1111774454122582016

Colonel Sanders

The bespectacled, goateed man whose name has become synonymous with fried chicken took over the 1’s and 2’s on the main stage Friday night. Well, not actually. The real Colonel died almost forty years ago, but since his death his name and iconic visage have remained symbols of Kentucky Fried Chicken, the brand he founded in 1930.

The Colonel who took the stage at Ultra appeared to be a real DJ wearing a helmet with Colonel Sanders’s face on it. Apparently, KFC purchased “The Colonel” a slot on the main stage.

Reactions

As seen from the video above, festival-goers did not exactly seem hyped about the Colonel’s set. “Any of ya hungry for some beats?” a pre-recorded fake Colonel voice asked the crowd. They seemed to have already eaten.

Some members of the EDM community were not too thrilled with this big commercial either. Marshmello, the famous DJ with a big helmet that looks like Marshmallow, reportedly said that the Colonel Sanders set was “lame” and that there are “a lot of other artists that actually deserve to be on that stage instead.”

Chicago duo Louis The Child also noted that it “would be nice” if Ultra had used that time to show off what EDM is really about and “not make it seem like a joke.”

Both Marshmello and Louis The Child’s KFC tweets have since been deleted.

However, some other DJ’s have picked up the slack with fun reactions to the Colonel’s set.

For example, G Gones tweeted the following:

Playing Ultra Music Festival today!!! big day for me personally, it has always been a dream of mine to share the stage with legendary artists like *checks notes* kfc

G Jones

Valentano Khan also made a tweet:

He’s finally going to be able to move out of that cramped apartment and pursue music full time

all because of YOU, THE FANS championed him… Colonel Sanders.