--- title: EXO Sparks Viral Colonel Sanders Theory at Closing Ceremony description: EXO showed up to the Olympics Closing Ceremony in white suits the internet couldn't help but compare to KFC's Colonel Sanders. canonical: https://time.com/5174891/exo-olympics-closing-ceremony-internet-reactions-kfc/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-26T02:34:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:54.987Z og:title: The Internet Thinks It's EXO Dresses Like Colonel Sanders og:description: They're convinced they dress exactly like the fried chicken mascot og:url: https://time.com/5174891/exo-olympics-closing-ceremony-internet-reactions-kfc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09f9b91637cac342/698928df096a949f5a6a1a29/gettyimages-917207724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: EXO "The ElyXiOn" world tour concert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Thinks It's EXO Dresses Like Colonel Sanders twitter:description: They're convinced they dress exactly like the fried chicken mascot twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09f9b91637cac342/698928df096a949f5a6a1a29/gettyimages-917207724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Thinks EXO Dressed Like Colonel Sanders for the Olympics Closing Ceremony by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 26, 2018 2:34 AM UTC  TAIWAN, CHINA - FEBRUARY 10: (CHINA MAINLAND OUT)EXO "The ElyXiOn" world tour concert on 10th February, 2018 in Taipei, Taiwan, China.(Photo by TPG/Getty Images) TAIWAN, CHINA - FEBRUARY 10: (CHINA MAINLAND OUT)EXO "The ElyXiOn" world tour concert on 10th February, 2018 in Taipei, Taiwan, China.(Photo by TPG/Getty Images)TPG—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 26, 2018 2:34 AM UTC Don’t get too comfy in that Colonel Sanders role [Reba McEntire](http://time.com/5120101/kfc-announces-first-female-colonel-sanders-reba-mcentire/), because the performers at the 2018 Winter Olympics really look the part. If a pop sensation group looks anything remotely like a well-known food mascot, don’t think for a second that [the internet will let it slide](http://time.com/5109471/millie-bobby-brown-lookalike-natalie-portman/). That was the case on Sunday when wildly popular [K-pop group EXO](http://time.com/5124176/best-k-pop-artists/) arrived to the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in white suits with black accents. Everyone knows the Colonel as the smooth-talking mascot modeled after the KFC franchise founder. The nine-member, hip-hop flavored, sensational group EXO, which [rivals BTS in popularity](http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/32019/1/the-nine-koreans-who-make-up-the-world-s-biggest-boyband), is also world-famous, albeit for sick beats and claiming their own alien personas with superpowers. Unsurprisingly, EXO’s avid fan base went nuts over the fact that their favorites were performing at Sunday’s Olympics Closing Ceremony. While meeting Ivanka Trump might’ve been the day’s photographic highlight for the band, that wasn’t all the internet obsessed over when it came to their pictures. People thought their getups were strikingly similar to the formal attire that the Colonel wears, and the internet couldn’t get enough about the stylistic similarities between the KFC mascot and the K-pop band. The observation raged like wildfire on Twitter, with users agreeing the resemblance is uncanny. So what to do with the fact that EXO may or may not look to the Southern gentleman and fried chicken lifer as a style muse? Get the brain trust together to come up with an EXO jingle for KFC’s finger lickin’ goodness? Or maybe the Korean franchises should release nine new sauces based on EXO’s various alien personas? Whatever the next move is, here’s how the internet juxtaposed the Colonel and EXO. > [](https://twitter.com/cheesey%5Fj/status/967728065383227393) > [](https://twitter.com/ultminseok99/status/967722906137477120) > [](https://twitter.com/Lookmai%5Fexo/status/967794207166353409) > [](https://twitter.com/jdkimji/status/967775062425153538) > [](https://twitter.com/kimkaisuniverse/status/967737911750705152) > [](https://twitter.com/jdkimji/status/967775062425153538) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5174891/exo-olympics-closing-ceremony-internet-reactions-kfc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5174891/exo-olympics-closing-ceremony-internet-reactions-kfc/"},"headline":"The Internet Thinks EXO Dressed Like Colonel Sanders for the Olympics Closing Ceremony","datePublished":"2018-02-26T02:34:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:50:54.987Z","description":"EXO showed up to the Olympics Closing Ceremony in white suits the internet couldn't help but compare to KFC's Colonel Sanders.","url":"https://time.com/5174891/exo-olympics-closing-ceremony-internet-reactions-kfc/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09f9b91637cac342/698928df096a949f5a6a1a29/gettyimages-917207724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09f9b91637cac342/698928df096a949f5a6a1a29/gettyimages-917207724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"EXO \"The ElyXiOn\" world tour concert","caption":"EXO \"The ElyXiOn\" world tour concert","creditText":"TPG—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5174891/exo-olympics-closing-ceremony-internet-reactions-kfc/","name":"The Internet Thinks EXO Dressed Like Colonel Sanders for the Olympics Closing Ceremony"}}]}] ```