Global Courant
Conservatives have a cat over Cracker Barrel’s embrace of both Pride month and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Now the nationwide retail and restaurant chain is the latest in a string of businesses and products canceled by the courts for being too “awake,” joining the likes of Chick-fil-A, bud light, Goal, from Kohl, The North Face, Lego and more.
A conservative group dramatically posted that “Cracker Barrel has fallen” because of a pretty standard nod to inclusion and diversity:
The right were also triggered by an image the company posted on its social media channels showing a front porch full of rocking chairs, one of which featured 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 writes.
Cracker Barrel didn’t always welcome everyone to its table, or at least not within its working ranks. The company banned LGBTQ people from working in its restaurants and eventually fired employees it learned were gay reversing that policy in 1991.
The company now has one diversity, equity and inclusion policies, scores an 80 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Business Equality Index and made headlines in 2019 for refusing to allow an anti-gay pastor to hold an event at one of his restaurants.
The right aren’t happy about those changes, but plenty of people are thrilled — and plenty of comments on Facebook are celebrating the company.
Cracker Barrel yes respond to some of those positive messages.
We want everyone to feel welcome at our table and that will never change.
“We really appreciate what everyone brings to the table and couldn’t be happier to read your kind words,” they wrote to another.
The latest collapse from the right sparked much laughter on Twitter — and caused Cracker Barrel trends:
