A clip of a Black man at Cracker Barrel is going viral and reminding customer about its historical ties to racial discrimination.
Chaise (@vibestealer), a Black TikTok streamer, shared the story in a short clip with more than 712,000 views. He likely did not plan to go to Cracker Barrel to create content, and no Cracker Barrel employee was involved. But sometimes content finds you.
“I’m at Cracker Barrel right now,” he says. “Getting stared at by this old white woman. I bet you’re thinking, ‘Why am I here?’ That’s why. I wanna taste the racism in my hash browns, the animosity in my eggs. I’m not even here because I like food. I’m just in it for the love of the game.”
Black Man Experiences Racism At Cracker Barrel
The comments are hilarious. “Dear god, they’re free now?” joked one person. Another person quipped about her being so bothered, “She letting a whole random person sitting at a restaurant affect her Sunday.”
“I would’ve looked at her like this eating my food,” said a top commenter, who used a photo of Denzel Washington in the scene with his antagonist from his recent film, “Highest 2 Lowest.”
“I would not have believed it till I saw it,” said another person, remarking on the incredulity of the situation. But if you’re a Black person who’s been to a Cracker Barrel in the South, it feels entirely feasible.
History of Racial Discrimination At Cracker Barrel
In the early 2000s, Cracker Barrel faced a landmark federal class action lawsuit for racial discrimination across 50 restaurants in seven states. It was found that the company allowed white servers to refuse to wait on Black people, and then also to seat Black customers in segregated areas.
In 2004, the company settled an $8.7 million suit after at least 42 plaintiffs accused employees of using racial slurs and serving food taken from the trash.
When Black people go into a Cracker Barrel, they come for the food, but expect some level of racism from someone. It is still the South, and the people haven’t changed, even if the corporate policy says it has.
Cracker Barrel Attempts a Re-Brand
Cracker Barrel has been trying to shed some part of its down-home, slice-of-Americana vibes and become something more modern. This, in turn, would help them push off from the deep South, just-post-Antebellum feel. Then, they changed the logo, which backfired significantly.
The company had to walk back a logo change in August, partly because President Donald Trump didn’t like it. The real issue was that, although the company had been working on an overhaul, it did not offer a compelling rebranding story to justify a logical change to its iconic logo.
All Hip Hop reached out to Chaise to find out more about the interaction.
@vibestealer #racism ♬ original sound – chaise.