Teen wins game of chicken on Twitter: Plea for free Wendy’s nuggets breaks Ellen’s record for retweets

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Carter Wilkerson
Carter Wilkerson, 16, of Reno, Nev. (Twitter Photo / @Wendys)

Wendy’s chicken nuggets are officially more appetizing than a photo containing Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper and more stars.

A Reno, Nev., teenager’s plea for free food from the chain has become the most retweeted tweet of all time, eclipsing the famous celeb-packed image that Ellen DeGeneres shared at the Academy Awards in 2014.

Carter Wilkerson, 16, reached 3.441 million retweets on Tuesday morning to pass DeGeneres’ record of 3.430 million.

The original tweet that started the social media back and forth came just last month, when Wilkerson directed a random question at the official Wendy’s account.

Wendy’s replied by saying “18 million” and Wilkerson said, “Consider it done.”

For the next several weeks, Wilkerson’s feed is loaded with promotional appearances and media shout-outs, including a trip to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” His #NuggsforCarter hashtag showed up on the back of the Wendy’s NASCAR race car.

On Tuesday, history was made and Wendy’s came through with a $100,000 donation to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The Guinness World Records and Twitter also weighed in on the historic achievement.

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