Burger King is no stranger to controversy. The fast food chain has been subjected to a whole host of scandals over the years. So keep watching for some of the biggest scandals that Burger King will never be able to live down.

In 2013, the British food industry was embroiled in a nationwide scandal after it was revealed that certain foods that were advertised as containing beef actually contained traces of horse meat. The source of the contamination was believed to be a supplier used by the Silvercrest Foods plant, an Irish meat factory. Silvercrest supplied meat to a number of different companies, including, as it turned out, Burger King.

At the end of January 2013, the company revealed that some of its burgers had indeed been contaminated. According to Burger King, they took immediate action once the contamination was discovered. In a statement, the company explained,

"Within the last 36 hours, we have established that Silvercrest used a small percentage of beef imported from a non-approved supplier in Poland. They promised to deliver 100 percent British and Irish beef patties and have not done so. This is a clear violation of our specifications, and we have terminated our relationship with them."

It's probably fair to say that the Big Mac is the undisputed top dog of the burger world. It's McDonald's ace in the hole, its finest and most enduring creation. So it's perhaps not that surprising that Burger King has tried to rip it off. Initially, the Double Supreme debuted back in 1993. However, it suffered through a difficult start, so it was rebranded as the Big King in 1996. It was discontinued shortly after, which isn't much of a surprise considering that you could get pretty much the exact same thing from the McDonald's down the street.

But then the Big King returned to stores in 2013. It was practically identical to the Big Mac in composition: three layers of bun, patties, cheese, onion, pickles, and a special sauce. But there was a difference in flavor. According to a review by Serious Eats, the Big King's sauce was overwhelmingly sweet while the patties tasted, quote, "like fake smoke." And that wasn't the only pan. Publication after publication framed the Big King as a Big Mac ripoff. So it's fair to say that the Big King was far from a runaway success.

In April 2012, a Burger King commercial starring legendary R&B singer Mary J. Blige leaked onto the internet. The ad featured Blige singing about Burger King's fried chicken wrap to the tune of her song "Don't Mind." Alas, the spot attracted a heap of criticism for playing into African-American stereotypes, and Burger King immediately pulled it from the airwaves. The company quickly offered an apology to Blige in a statement, saying,

"We would like to apologize to Mary J. and all of her fans for airing an ad that was not final. We know how important Mary J. is to her fans, and we are currently in the process of finalizing the commercial. We hope to have the final ad on the air soon."

Blige herself then publicly opened up about the commercial during an appearance on Hot 97's Angie Martinez show. She admitted,

"Oh my God, my heart dropped down to my stomach. I got this sweat and I said, real calm, ‘This too shall pass.’ But it just kept getting worse and worse and worse."

"And all I can see is Burger King and chicken and buffoonery, and I'm like, 'What the heck? What, what?' And, and it's all- it just broke my heart."

Blige claimed that she had originally been told the ad would be part of a, quote, "fun and creative" campaign, but she argued that it was shot in an entirely different way than what she had expected.

Keep watching the video to find out more huge scandals that will always haunt Burger King.

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Horse meat burgers | 0:11
Copying the Big Mac | 1:06
Mary J. Blige commercial | 1:59
OK Google ad | 3:02
Croissan'wich "deal" | 3:56
Whopper Sacrifice campaign | 4:53
Russian pregnancy promotion | 5:47
Real Meals | 6:30
Milkshake tweet | 7:43
The Impossible Whopper | 8:34