After Chick-fil-A ruffles far-right feathers, Fox News asks if the culture war has gone too far

Now that some ultra-conservatives have vowed to boycott Chick-fil-A over the company’s corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Fox News hosts are scrambling on-air to determine whether the public backlash towards “woke” companies — the same backlash they’ve previously helped direct at brands like Bud Light and M&M’s — has finally gone too far. 

As the Daily Beast’s Brooke Leigh Howard reported on Tuesday, several far-right pundits discovered a months-old update to Chick-fil-A’s website that outlined corporate leadership’s belief that the communities they serve are “Better Together.” 

“When we combine our unique backgrounds and experiences with a culture of belonging, we can discover new ways to strengthen the quality of care we deliver: to customers, to the communities we serve and to the world,” it said. 

After screenshots of the webpage — as well as the “revelation” that Chick-fil-A had actually been employing a director of diversity, equity and inclusion for several years — went viral on Twitter, some enraged conservatives claimed that Chick-fil-A had “gone woke.” 

On Tuesday morning, Jeff Clark, an assistant attorney in the Trump administration, wrote on Twitter: “Disappointing. Et tu Chik-fil-a?” 

“I don’t want to have to boycott,” tweeted self-described political strategist Joey Mannarino. “Are we going to have to boycott?” 

But on Wednesday’s episode of the Fox News program “Outnumbered,” host Kayleigh McEnany — who was also the former White House secretary under Donald Trump — said she though the idea that Chick-fil-A was woke was ridiculous. 

She reminded viewers that Chick-fil-A was founded by S. Truett Cathy, a devout Southern Baptist, and that his beliefs are woven through the company’s identity, as evidenced, in part, by the fact that the chain closed on Sundays. 

“You know, I’m in the airport, I want Chick-fil-A, they’re closed on Sunday in honor of the Sabbath,” she said. “Until they start selling, uh — tuck swimsuits, I’m not going to be boycotting Chick-fil-A, they are a great company.” 

McEnany was referring to the “tuck-friendly” adult swimsuits that Target has carried as part of their PRIDE line, meant for trans individuals who haven’t undergone gender affirming surgery to conceal their genitals. 

In a since-disproven post from a Twitter page called “Gays Against Groomers,” there were allegations that the Target children’s section also carried these swimsuits which — in concert with the other lines of Pride Month merchandise the department store was carrying — led to widespread calls from conservatives to boycott the store. 

As Media Matters for America recorded, Fox News aired more than two hours of coverage of the backlash to Target’s Pride Month displays last week (while, for what it’s worth, running less than a minute of coverage on a new report detailing sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Illinois during that same time frame).

It’s not a coincidence that the network also produced wall-to-wall coverage of the Bud Light’s social media partnership with trans activist and actress Dylan Mulvaney, as well as the subsequent fall-out experienced by the company following their tepid response to the transphobia their campaign ignited, the flames of which were, in no small part, fanned by Fox News. 

Fox News’ transphobic agenda isn’t a secret and their hosts’ relentless fear mongering around the sheer existence of trans individuals — and their desire to live normal lives with access to basic, affirming medical care — is only escalating as bids for 2024 elections begin to heat up. 

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Trans rights are going to be one of the hot button election issues in many cities, states and municipalities over the coming years, not to mention the upcoming presidential election. And, as McEnany made clear in her initial response to the Chick-fil-A feather-ruffling, anything that detracts from or doesn’t directly support Fox’s narrative around the topic isn’t a particularly useful “news item.” 

Is that hypocritical? Sure, but when most conservatives can’t even define “wokeness,” it’s easy to keep shifting the lines in the culture war to fit the hot topic of current news or election cycle. 

I wonder, for instance, if the news of Chick-fil-A’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives had hit far-right Twitter a few months ago  — when critical race theory was positioned more solidly as the liberal bogeyman — if Fox News’ response would have been different? 

For now, the “Outnumbered” crew are waving off the Chick-fil-A controversy as being the result of some kind of legal mandate. 

“What will be interesting about Chick-fil-A is, can they do both?” Fox News’ Harris Faulkner said on the program. “Can they keep the DEI in the front-view mirror, the front of the car, because many states are mandating it now. Here at Fox, other corporations, there will be things they’re going to have to change because the state of New York requires it.”

As Nick Mordowanec wrote for Newsweek, it’s unclear to which state laws the Fox hosts are referring, though numerous New York-based entities including universities, law schools, the New York State Education Department and the New York Bar Association, have implemented DEI guidelines.

“Bud Light couldn’t figure out which part to do so they stuck their toe in the deep end of the water and started drowning,” she added. “Can Chick-fil-A continue to walk the plank … and at the same time do DEI, which really keeps everybody happy in the corporate end? If their states start mandating it, some of these companies are going to have to start doing things that they said they’d never do.”