In a grave turn of events that would make any sandwich-related puns distasteful, Jared Fogle—best known as a formerly obese man who slimmed down by eating a lot of heavily processed food from Subway, or as Homer Simpson put it, “used to be fat, but now he’s just ugly”—had his suburban Indianapolis home raided by the FBI early this morning as part of a child-pornography investigation. Although Fogle has not been arrested or charged with a crime, local affiliate WTHR says he has been “detained,” and that references to the foot-long subs would be in poor taste given the situation.
It’s important to remember that Fogle may not be in trouble at all; this past April, Russell Taylor, the guy who ran Fogle’s Jared Foundation (which fights childhood obesity), was arrested for possession of child pornography. It’s unclear as to whether the raid on Fogle’s home is linked to that investigation, just as it’s unclear what, exactly, is in Subway’s gelatinous tuna fish—the kind of light-hearted jape that the gravity of a child-pornography investigation renders objectionable.
In 2013, the New York Daily News mentioned Fogle was worth $15 million after 15 years as Subway’s pitchman. His has been the sandwich chain’s longest-running and most successful campaign—Subtember 11 apparently didn’t work out—though it’s hard to imagine it continuing now, even if Fogle is cleared of wrongdoing. An association with child pornography is even harder to lose than the 235 pounds Fogle shed eating turkey sandwiches, which is, again, a joke that shouldn’t be made in the face of such a serious investigation.
UPDATE: BuzzFeed News is reporting that Subway has suspended its relationship with Fogle. (An earlier tweet said it was ending its relationship altogether.) This follows an earlier statement from the company today that it was “very concerned” and would “be monitoring the situation closely.” CBS News reports that Fogle and Subway “mutually agreed to suspend their relationship,” with the former saying that “he expects no actions to be forthcoming.” The network says that Fogle will remain in charge of his namesake foundation.