Severed Finger in Bowl of Chili Leads to Bizarre Retraction From the NYT

The New York Times was forced to issue a correction on a story last week after it unknowingly interviewed a woman who’s among the country’s most infamous fraudsters.

That gaffe was published as part of an article about Kamala Harris cutting into Donald Trump’s polling lead. Among a group of prospective voters interviewed was Anna Ayala, a 58-year-old woman from California who claimed she was a Democrat who’d recently switched to backing Donald Trump, partially because of the southern border.

“I mean, the border situation is out of control,” Ayala was quoted as saying.

That quote didn’t last long on the Times’ website, however. It was removed approximately an hour later and a correction—likely among the most eccentric in the paper’s 172-year history—was placed at the article’s bottom.

“The Times removed comments from one voter in an earlier version of this article after learning that the person had been convicted in an extortion scheme in which she made fraudulent claims,” it read.

The correction referred to Ayala’s history as the fraudster who infamously planted an acquaintance’s severed finger into her Wendy’s chili, claiming it was served to her that way. She tried to bank tens of millions off the fast food chain and reportedly cost Wendy’s tens of millions of dollars because of the bogus allegations—but she never saw a dime herself. Instead, she was sentenced to nine years in prison after she was convicted of grand larceny for the scam.

Ayala was slapped with the nickname “Chili Finger Lady,” a moniker and reputation that should have prevented anyone from ever taking her seriously again.

The Times’ mistake appeared to have been first pointed out by Gilad Edelman, an editor at The Atlantic. He wrote to X that “something just seemed odd about the quote” so he Googled her, and, alas, her well-documented history as a fraudster presented itself.

It remains unclear how Ayala was able to sneak a quote into the country’s paper of record, and spokespeople for the Times have merely referred outlets to its correction when reached for comment on the matter.

At the center of the story was a Times/Siena College poll that asked respondents whether they’d be open to being contacted by a reporter to discuss “the issues in this survey.”

The story carried three bylines: Shane Goldmacher, Ruth Igielnik, and Camille Baker. They have not addressed the gaffe publicly, and reports have not identified who conducted the ill-fated interview.