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Chick-fil-A Faces Growing Backlash Over 'Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion' Efforts
Epoch Times ^ | 05/31/2023 | Jack Phillips

Posted on 05/31/2023 9:24:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Some conservatives have suggested a boycott of Chick-fil-A after the fast-food chain was discovered to have a vice president of “diversity, equity, [and] inclusion,” or DEI.

In a previously issued Chick-fil-A news release, the company said that Erick McReynolds serves as its vice president of DEI, saying: “Chick-fil-A restaurants have long been recognized as a place where people know they will be treated well. Modeling care for others starts in the restaurant, and we are committed to ensuring mutual respect, understanding, and dignity everywhere we do business.”

DEI is a set of principles that large corporations, government agencies, and schools have increasingly incorporated into their work environments, often mandating employees receive such training. However, these principles are rooted in Marxism, according to prominent critics including Christopher Rufo and James Lindsay, that are essentially vehicles for “left-wing racialist ideology and partisan political activism.”

They are designed to replace the system of academic merit with a system of race-based preferences and discrimination—which, in many cases, explicitly violates federal civil rights law,” wrote Rufo for his Substack page earlier this year.

The Chick-fil-A announcement was highlighted this week by several prominent conservative accounts. According to McReynolds’s LinkedIn page, he was hired as Chick-fil-A’s vice president for “Diversity, Equity [and] Inclusion” in late 2021.

“We have a problem,” wrote Joey Mannarino, a conservative host in highlighting Chick-fil-A’s prior announcement, on Twitter Tuesday morning. “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. Are we going to have to boycott?”

He also wrote: “The Left is going crazy again over the Chick-fil-A boycott that conservatives are considering. They’re mad because we’ve FINALLY gotten effective at boycotts. Any company that is pushing the trans stuff on our kids or the DEI stuff, we are going to pick the worst offenders.”

So Chick-fil-A has a diversity, equity and inclusion division,” added columnist Todd Starnes on Tuesday. “Well, that explains the fried cauliflower sandwiches and kale salad.”

By Tuesday afternoon, Lindsay wrote on Twitter that he agreed with the boycott calls and made demands. “We must demand that Chick-fil-A fire their entire ESG and Sustainability staff and partners (including DEI), referring to the left-wing environmental, social, and governance framework.

Ideally we get them to confess how they got caught up in the racket, and then we return support,” he added. “Conservatives might actually be able to pull this one off.”

The chicken-based fast-food chain has been generally well respected among conservatives due to the company’s religious values and its prior support for religious groups. In the McReynolds DEI announcement, Chick-fil-A makes reference to its corporate purpose, which is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us” and “to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Chick-fil-A for comment.

Backlash Growing

In recent weeks, a number of companies have faced backlash for embracing what critics say are left-wing values or a pro-LGBT agenda. Since early April, Bud Light has seen a significant backlash after it produced a beer can with transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s face and as Mulvaney suggested a partnership with the brand.

Read more here...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: budlighted; chickfila; dei; die; woke
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1 posted on 05/31/2023 9:24:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

I miss the days when products were created and business minded their own lane.


2 posted on 05/31/2023 9:29:13 PM PDT by Jonty30 (If liberals were truth tellers, they'd call themselves literals. )
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To: SeekAndFind

Chick-fil-A was the place to go for Christians.

Now it isn’t.

I believe this boycott, and there will be one, is going to be much more devasting for Chick-Fil-A than the boycott of Bud-Light.

This strikes right at the core of the values of it’s main group of customers.


3 posted on 05/31/2023 9:30:09 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Trump has all the right enemies, DeSantis has all the wrong friends.)
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To: SoConPubbie

Ditto!


4 posted on 05/31/2023 9:32:01 PM PDT by The Duke
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To: SeekAndFind

Believe it or not, the best fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had was at Longhorn Steaks.

Chik-Fil-A has surrendered to the WOKE. There are many good alternatives.


5 posted on 05/31/2023 9:33:57 PM PDT by BrexitBen
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To: SeekAndFind
What happened to Chick-Fil-A?

I thought they were one of the "good" companies that didn't put up with political correctness.

When did they "go woke?"

Companies need to be careful when signing on to woke nonsense.

Conservatives have finally found numbers and a voice. Look what happened to Bud-light and Target.

6 posted on 05/31/2023 9:36:16 PM PDT by Jess Kitting
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To: SoConPubbie

Chick-fil-A now doing the devil’s work with ‘Diversity’, ‘Equity’ and ‘Whitey Exclusion’.

-fJRoberts-


7 posted on 05/31/2023 9:37:12 PM PDT by A strike ("The worse, the better."- Lenin (& Schwab & Soros)
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To: SeekAndFind

Is this where Madame Horseface went to after leaving the Bud Lite Advertsing team? It sounds like something she would suggest.


8 posted on 05/31/2023 9:39:59 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: SeekAndFind

That company suckered a whole bunch of people.


9 posted on 05/31/2023 9:52:24 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: SoConPubbie

“This strikes right at the core of the values of it’s main group of customers.”

Yes and thus they should be held to a higher standard than a McD’s, BK, or other typical fast food stop.


10 posted on 05/31/2023 9:58:53 PM PDT by Zack Attack
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To: SeekAndFind

Too expensive - paid $27 for two plain chicken sandwich meals.


11 posted on 05/31/2023 10:26:21 PM PDT by Amish with an attitude
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To: Jess Kitting

WHEN THE FATHER RETIRED AND TURNED IT OVER TO THE SON......


12 posted on 05/31/2023 10:49:04 PM PDT by Hambone 1934 (Dems love playing Nazis.....The republicans love helping them)
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To: SeekAndFind

I want a good chicken sandwich, not a bunch of chickenshit leftist weirdos in the kitchen of education. The latter can be a separate desert known as “fruit salad” or a chock-full-of-nuts pecan pie with a corn Flake topping.


13 posted on 05/31/2023 10:55:52 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (Figures )
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To: SeekAndFind

Jesse Watters showed a video of the ahole CEO polishing a black guy’s shoes. The black guy said he would rather have stock in the company.

The idiot CEO mentioned he was sending shoeshine kits to all the restaurants in the chain.

If I was a franchisee, I would send the kit back to the CEO with a note telling him to shove his kit up his a—.


14 posted on 05/31/2023 11:11:39 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (Disband and Defund the putrid FBI. America does not need an out of control Gestapo)
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To: SeekAndFind

I started wondering about Chick-fil-A a few years ago for something I witnessed while eating in the dining area. (Pre-Dempanic). A shift change was taking place. One “affirmative action” employee walked through the dining area on her way out proudly carrying a bag of Popeye’s Chicken. (Located nearby) I don’t know what the bimbo’s problem was but I’ve always lived with, if you can’t be loyal to your employer, the least you can do is quit. This POS looked like trouble to begin with. She never should have been hired.


15 posted on 05/31/2023 11:17:24 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (JaySix - The attack that shook the foundations of Commie Liberal "democrazy". -The Far Left "media".)
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To: Hambone 1934
WHEN THE FATHER RETIRED AND TURNED IT OVER TO THE SON......

It's so the way of the world. Teach a man to fish .... Give a man a fishing company and soon the world will starve.

16 posted on 05/31/2023 11:31:59 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: SeekAndFind

It5 should be “ Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Equity”
That is what it proposes
DIE!


17 posted on 05/31/2023 11:33:13 PM PDT by rellic
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To: SeekAndFind

Imagine trying to make money by selling a good product that your customer’s want and not telling them how to live. It’s an absolute waste of corporate privilege.


18 posted on 05/31/2023 11:33:46 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: SoConPubbie

[Chick-fil-A was the place to go for Christians.

Now it isn’t.]

Chick-fil-A wanted a DEI, so I hope they’re happy.


19 posted on 06/01/2023 12:54:01 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Amish with an attitude

[too expensive]

I agree. Two meals plus a chocolate shake. Then I got some chicken tenders to go (maybe that was the chocolate shake).

ANYWAYS - $43 it cost me - $43 for two meals and a little extra - and THAT was in the Spring of 2020 just before Covid-19(84) showed up. This was in the Midwest, too.

I’d hate to see what it costs now.

Been to Popeye’s a few times this past Spring - their $5 chicken sandwich is awesome


20 posted on 06/01/2023 12:58:01 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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