The joke isn’t funny, but here goes with the punchline anyway: WSB-TV reports that the three white cops from the Clover, South Carolina Police Department – all in uniform – were given their meals for free at Christianity-themed fast food chicken chain Chick-fil-A’s Augusta, Georgia location but then the Black cop – wearing the same uniform as the white ones – was charged for his order.

Wait, there’s a punchier line: After Clover Police Sgt Tracey Reid wrote to Chick-fil-A to complain he was given two free meal vouchers as recompense. “We came in together, same uniform, stood in line, there was never a time we were not together while standing in line,” Reid told WSB of the incident that occurred last month while the four were in Augusta for an unspecified work function.

“He said he had to pay for his meal, and it infuriated me,” said Detective Thomas Barnette. “And I said, ‘You want me to go say something?’ He was like, ‘No, I don’t want you to cause a scene,’ but I could tell the way he looked; he just looked at his plate, he looked sad and humiliated and that made me really mad.” The gift cards and the response made it worse. “It said it was perceived that it was a racial incident, which I didn’t like, because it wasn’t perceived, it actually happened,” Reid said.

In a statement the franchisee said she regrets “the unintentional impact this incident had and sincerely apologize to our Guest. We were deeply concerned by this claim. It appears to have been an honest oversight across separate lines and registers. We are strongly committed to supporting our community’s first responders.” Man this joke sucks. Especially the part in the original response in which, per WSB, the owner wrote that “the person who processed the meal was a team leader who doesn’t normally work at the register, and the manager called the incident a mistake.”