Be very careful joking around hypersensitive people. They are always looking for “perceived slights”.
I work with employers and owners every day. They are scared sh*tless an employee will make a racial/gay anti woke mistake and the company will be sued and dragged through the courts.
Many are now using outside companies to hire new employees. They do not meet the new hire until the last few interviews to give final go ahead. The hiring company weeds out potential bad apples. That is sad.
I think you’re right. The job interview process today is a multi step process with a lot of trip wires designed to elicit feelings, opinions and views of a personal nature. Employers are nervous about bringing new people into the organization, even at the expense of sacrificing competence and skills of highly qualified applicants.
Mediocrity wins out.