Not Even Chick-fil-A Is Safe From Anti-‘Woke’ Right Wingers

Fresh off a siege against Target for the crime of releasing a Pride collection, far-right influencers have been roving the digital countryside looking for the subject of their next meltdown and have landed on a surprising choice: fast food chain Chick-fil-A.

Why are conservative accounts attempting to gin up outrage about Chick-fil-A? Because the company has (gasp) a diversity, equity, and inclusion program. The fervor over the famously Christian chain has reached the point that lawmakers are now getting involved. RawStory pointed out that Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) called Chick-fil-A “abhorrent” while speaking to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Wednesday.

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“That’s where we’ve got to certainly stand up for the principle and the truth where the abhorrent conduct comes from a putative ally, someone we’ve relied on,” he said, referencing how conservatives can’t depart from their values. “It’s very disappointing, but you cannot make it better by papering it over and letting it roll.”

Kirk tweeted on Tuesday that Chick-fil-A had gone “WOKE” by committing to a “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion agenda.”

The freakout seemed to be prompted by a Monday post from podcaster Joey Mannarino. “We have a problem,” he tweeted, “Chick-Fil-A just hired a VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is bad. Very bad. I don’t want to have to boycott.”

Chick-fil-A’s website includes a quote from Erick McReynolds, VP of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion stating that the company is “committed to ensuring mutual respect, understanding and dignity everywhere we do business.” McReynolds has worked at Chick-fil-A for years, according to LinkedIn.

Several other conservatives logged their outrage. Cringe-poster Benny Johnson posted a video calling for a boycott of the fast food chain over the company’s “Anti-White, Anti-Christian Woke Agenda,” while Ian Miles Cheong, a right-wing influencer with over 600,000 followers, declared: “Chick-fil-A has gone woke.” Columnist Todd Starnes wrote that the company’s DEI division “explains the fried cauliflower sandwiches and kale salad.”

Johnson posted another video on Wednesday, calling Chick-fil-A “the biggest fraud ever pulled on American Christians, that this is some type of Christian company — shame on them, shame on them.”

Johnson then argued that “tolerance is not a Christian virtue” while accusing Chick-fil-A chairman Dan Cathy of suffering from the “woke Christian mind virus.”

Conspiracy documentarian Stew Peters tweeted a clip Cathy, with Peters claiming that Cathy had said “ALL whites should get on their knees and shine black peoples’ shoes with ‘a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment.’”

The chicken-based eatery has historically been a darling amongst conservatives who laud its religious roots and values. The company’s owners are devout Christians and Chick-fil-A restaurants are, to the chagrin of hungover college students, famously closed on Sundays. Its prolific monetary support to organizations with anti-LGBTQ views, which reportedly ended in 2019, has long been a point of criticism against the company. That the chain is now being accused of being too friendly to minorities quickly became a point of mockery for those who have long avoided their fare.

From Bud Light to Target, the roster of companies being blacklisted by reactionaries is growing at a feverish pace. On Tuesday, the hashtag “BoycottDisney” trended, fueled by conservative outrage over a male employee of Disney working at one of Disney Land’s dress shops while wearing a dress and eye shadow.

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