The company defended its slow cookers on Wednesday after fans questioned their safety.
Warning: Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you haven't watched Tuesday's episode of This Is Us. You have been warned...
It's This Is Us vs. Crock-Pot.
Tuesday's gut-wrenching episode revealed the unexpected cause of the fire that burned down the Pearson family home and presumably brought Jack to his demise: an ill-functioning Crock-Pot that was given as a present to a young Jack and Rebecca by an elderly neighbor named George. "You have to fiddle with the switch a little, but it works," he assured the couple. So when the switch randomly turned on in the middle of the night years later, it sparked a fire in the kitchen that quickly spread throughout the home. If only the smoke detector had working batteries...
Following the episode, fans were devastated over the fact that a simple Crock-Pot could have been the cause of Jack's death, some even decrying the use of their own slow cookers. On Wednesday, the Crock-Pot company responded on social media -- even creating a new hashtag on Twitter, #CrockPotIsInnocent -- to fans yearning for answers.
"Jack Pearson was our Valentine so we equally understand your pain with his loss. We love him and we love you too ❤," the company wrote on its Facebook page in response to a fan seeking a statement over people throwing away their slow cookers. "Don’t further add to our heartbreak by no longer using Crock-Pot Slow Cookers, rest assured our products have been generationally tested by your family and friends."
The company also replied to another fan who stated that people were "worried" about the safety of their Crock-Pots.
"We’re heartbroken over last night’s episode, too!" the company replied, adding, "We’re innocent until proven guilty. Since the 1970s we have been providing families with quality and safe products, ask your parents if you don’t believe us."
Well then, Crock-Pot. If you say so!
This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman felt the need to defend the existence of slow cookers, taking to Twitter early Wednesday morning to "remind" viewers that what they saw last night wasn't real life. (But it sure felt like it, didn't it?)
"Taking a moment to remind everyone that it was a 20 year old fictional crockpot with an already funky switch? Let's not just lump all those lovely hardworking crockpots together," Fogelman wrote.
We're pretty certain there's more to Jack's death than a screwed-up switch on an old Crock-Pot, but fans of the show didn't mince words when it came to saying how they really felt about the kitchen appliance.
Some even poked fun at the uproar over the Crock-Pot by starting parody Twitter accounts.
One more episode, guys. One more episode.
This Is Us will air its special Super Bowl episode on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 10:15 p.m. ET/7:15 PT (tentative) on NBC. The cast will also appear on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon live from Minneapolis, Minnesota, at 11:50 p.m. ET/8:50 p.m. PT (tentative).
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