Cracker Barrel is Celebrating Pride Now Because We Live in Hell

In a strange and not-so-unexpected turn of events, Cracker Barrel is joining the legions of companies who turn their logo rainbow-colored in June.

That’s correct: the dubiously named fast-food chain Crackel Barrel is part of the rainbow capitalism army. Are we surprised? Not especially. Is it hilarious? Kind of, if you know even a tiny bit of the chain’s notorious history.

Now if you’ve been living under a rock, you might be asking yourself: “what’s the problem with Cracker Barrel?”

Where to begin.

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The chain has quite the checkered past, especially where racist and anti-Black incidents are concerned. Despite the company clarifying that its logo is not—as was once commonly believed—an image of an antebellum slaveowner holding a whip, the company was outed last year as employing a “code word” among the staff to refer to Black diners. This came to light after a Cracker Barrel hostess spilled everything on TikTok.

In 2013, the company proudly and willingly sold items from a line of merch created by “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson, who shortly after went on record saying that he believes homosexuality to be “a sin.” Cracker Barrel refused to remove the items, explaining in a Facebook statement: “We apologize for offending you. We respect all individuals [sic] right to express their beliefs.”

Breezing past the FDA-related scandals—such as the 2018 salmonella outbreak and feeding a customer a tall cup of glass cleaner—we come to the many, many lawsuits Cracker Barrel eventually had to settle with the NAACP for its history of race-based discrimination. There was also that one time customers noticed a decoration that looked a whole lot like a noose hanging in one of the chain’s Connecticut locations.

So yeah, we’re not impressed, nor are we thrilled, by the fact that Cracker Barrel has decided to paint the backs of their rocking chairs rainbow. You can keep it!

That said, if this pisses off conservatives, it’s not a total loss.