A select group of famous faces have the exclusive Burger King Crown Card
The Truth Behind the Mysterious Burger King Crown Card
You might have heard of the mysterious Burger King Crown Card, but is this “all you can eat for the rest of your life” gift card pure myth, or rooted in reality?
Turns out, it’s a real thing, but it’s incredibly difficult to get one. Today, the elite club of card holders has only a handful of known members, and each person who holds this special card can slip it out of their wallet and be guaranteed a free meal any time they want. There’s no cost to get a card and the membership lasts a lifetime, but there’s a catch: Only one person has ever been known to find their way in without a VIP invite.
Keep reading, and we’ll get into the details of this ultra exclusive fast-food fraternity.
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How to get the Burger King Crown Card
It’s not easy to become a member of the exclusive Burger King Crown Card program. To get one, you need to be both famous and a friend of Burger King. As of the last official count, only about 12 people owned one of the unlimited food cards, and those members were carefully handpicked. They were celebrities, yes, but not just any celebrities. All members were “good friends” of the chain who had a “long-standing relationship” with the brand, a spokesman told AdAge.
Like McDonalds Gold Card holders, those with the limitless version of the BK Crown Card (not to be confused with a regular Crown Card, which is just BK’s fancy name for a gift card) never again need to pay for the fast-food chain’s iconic Whopper, fries or whatever else on the menu their heart desires.
Celebrities with the Burger King Crown Card
George Lucas, for instance, has a long history of partnering with Burger King for film releases. In 1977, BK handed out collectible Star Wars glasses and posters to promote the franchise, marking one of the first cross-promotions of its kind. Lucas kept going back to BK for other releases, including in 2005 for Revenge of the Sith. So, of course, he gets a limitless BK Crown Card.
Other BK Crown Card holders include Jennifer Hudson, whose first job was in the drive-through at Burger King, where she’d sing into the microphone when a car came. No wonder she says she loved her job! Greg Garcia, who produced My Name Is Earl, was reportedly given one because he worked at Burger King to collect funny stories when a writer’s strike kept him from his day job.
Robert Downey Jr. also reportedly said Burger King saved him from substance abuse when a greasy meal from there spun him into a panic that he’d overdosed. That scare finally convinced him to give up drugs for good, and he made a nod to his experience by having his Iron Man character order a burger from the chain. Crown Card holder Jay Leno told the London Times that when he flashed his card at BK, the employee was “more impressed with this piece of plastic” than the comedian’s fame or his fancy car.
The clever way one celebrity got the card
Those famous faces got their invites based on a solid history with Burger King, but one celeb has proven that it is possible to get a membership just by asking—or telling. Hugh Laurie famously told the London Times in 2008 that being a cardholder was one of his best celebrity perks. The kicker is, he didn’t actually have a BK Crown Card. Still, his announcement was pretty solid PR for the company, so they mailed him a card after all. Fake it till you make it, huh?
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Sources:
- Ad Age: “Actor Sparks BK-Card Freakout”
- YouTube: “Jennifer Hudson Talks Being a Burger Queen! | The Queen Latifah Show”
- The Guardian: “Jennifer Hudson: ‘I’ve loved all my jobs, even when I worked at Burger King’”
- YouTube: “Star Wars Burger King glasses commercial (1978)”
- The Province: “Fast Food Helped Downey Ditch Drugs”
- LA Times: “Celebrity watch: Hugh Laurie”
