Right-Wingers Mocked For Full-Blown Freakout Over 'Woke' Cracker Barrel

[aubiefifty 18,259]

Right-Wingers Mocked For Full-Blown Freakout Over 'Woke' Cracker Barrel

Ed Mazza

5–6 minutes

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Conservatives are having a kitten over Cracker Barrel’s embrace of Pride Month and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The outrage adds the country store and restaurant chain to the string of companies and products being canceled by the right for being too “woke,” joining the likes of Chick-fil-A, Bud Light, Target, Kohl’s, The North Face, Lego and more.

One conservative group declared that “Cracker Barrel has fallen” because of the company’s fairly conventional nod to inclusion and diversity:

Right-wingers were also triggered by an image the company posted on its social media channels showing its porch full of rocking chairs, with one featuring a rainbow pattern in the slats:

 

Cracker Barrel

 

Cracker Barrel

“We are excited to celebrate Pride Month with our employees and guests. Everyone is always welcome at our table,” the company wrote.

Cracker Barrel did not always welcome everyone at its table, or at least within its employment ranks. The company notoriously banned LGBTQ people from working in its restaurants and fired employees it learned were gay. Those transphobic policies were reversed in 1991.

The company now has a diversity, equity and inclusion policy, scores an 80 on the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index and made headlines in 2019 for refusing to allow an anti-gay pastor to hold an event in one of its restaurants.

Right-wingers aren’t happy with those changes, but plenty of people are thrilled ― and many comments on Facebook are celebrating the company.

Cracker Barrel is responding to some of those positive posts.

“We want everyone to feel welcome at our table, and that will never change,” the company said in response to one.

“We truly value what everyone brings to the table and couldn’t be happier to read your kind words,” it wrote to another.

The right’s latest meltdown led to big laughs on Twitter ― and caused Cracker Barrel to trend:

After the great gay purge of 1991, the gays have slowly infiltrated and taken over Cracker Barrel. We play the long game. pic.twitter.com/kQhhbSrROm

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) June 9, 2023

My dearest Cynthia,

I write to you today a broken man.

Despite our best efforts, the Cracker Barrel fell. We fought for its potpourri-scented gift shop, its tabletop puzzles. Our tears and sweat mixed with the cream gravy atop the chicken fried steaks. https://t.co/50JSBntRj3

— brooke foster, 2023 edition (@lonesometoast) June 9, 2023

Cracker Barrel: we’re going to treat our customers like we would anyone else, even if they’re gay, lesbian, trans, etc.

40% of America: pic.twitter.com/apqs6SxOSt

— Nathan Santo Domingo (@NSDwx) June 9, 2023

Pat Robertson 👉 DEAD
Trump 👉 INDICTED
Cracker Barrel 👉 FALLEN

Listen the planet may be on fire but I’m gonna find my joy wherever I can 😌 pic.twitter.com/2bYReGtsIk

— Luna (@Lunalore) June 9, 2023

"My darlin' Beulah. We marched on Tallahassee today only to confirm the worst of the rumors. Cracker Barrel has fallen. Kiss my children-cousins for me and pray for my soul. I shall now drink from a rusty puddle and hope for death."

— Dennis Perkins Will Never Pay Apartheid Boy A Dime (@DennisPerkins5) June 9, 2023

LMAO hold up…so Pat Robertson dies, Trump gets indicted and Cracker Barrel goes "woke"….The MAGAs must be losing their s*** right now 🤣 pic.twitter.com/ursAPVoOcF

— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) June 9, 2023

Dearest Penelope,

Cracker Barrel has fallen. I never thought I would be writing these mournful words to you, but the moment we dreaded for so long has arrived. We regroup now to take our positions at Hobby Lobby. Kiss the children for me, and pray.

Yours in haste,

Elmer pic.twitter.com/lntI77HqEi

— Julia S. (@booktweeting) June 9, 2023

Texas Family Project devastated they can no longer bring their kids to Cracker Barrel before leaving them with predatory youth pastor. https://t.co/pKoHi799LM

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) June 9, 2023

My dearest Clotilda,

The news from the front is terrible. We happened upon a Cracker Barrel, where we had hoped to sup and rest up before the next battle at Wokesburg. To our shock, we found the place overrun by the gays. We retreated til the morning.

Ever yours,
Eaton Beaver

— Michael Feher (same @ on The Pliocene Pachyderm) (@SaxMike71) June 9, 2023

Conservatives are pissed off because Cracker Barrel has one rainbow rocking chair.

For real, you guys know you look ridiculous, right?

There are real problems in the world. A rocking chair is not one.

I'm gonna order chicken and dumplings tomorrow, with fried apples 😤 pic.twitter.com/xhBP901Dl0

— Karlyn Borysenko (@DrKarlynB) June 9, 2023

[SLAG-91 1,612]

The calculus is pretty simple:

If it projects to make them more money, then antagonizing some of their customer base is a trade a company will make. If Cracker Barrel thinks rainbow rockers will sell at a profit, they're making rainbow rockers.

I wish businesses would concentrate more on making a good product at a reasonable price instead of the political/social noise on the periphery.

If I go to Cracker Barrel, it's because I-10 construction has worn me to a nub and I want breakfast for dinner with some fluffy biscuits. Their food made them, and that's what priority one needs to be.  

I don't much give a damn what the "leadership" of a company puts out as their position on (insert wedge issue of your choice). Pay your employees a fair and reasonable wage, get my order right, and if a sandwich has bacon on it, make sure it's crispy!

That would seem to make me a dinosaur, though, and I'll own that.