Since the company unveiled its new commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), right-wing media figures have been dogpiling on Chick-fil-A in what they perceive as the latest corporation going “woke.”

Earlier this week, right-wing media figures took notice of a new page on fast food chain Chick-fil-A’s website about DEI and the company’s previously unnoticed November 2021 hiring of a vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The site notes that through the organization’s DEI efforts, Chick-fil-A aims to uphold its corporate promise “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” by “ensuring equal access,” “valuing differences,” and “creating a culture of belonging.”

In recent years, conservative media figures have railed against DEI initiatives, which they use interchangeably with the term “critical race theory” to criticize any institutional efforts aiming to acknowledge and address systemic oppression. The manufactured right-wing panic about CRT and DEI has even led some Republicans to push legislation banning DEI at the state level using a framework created by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. 

Because of its DEI initiative, some on the right are now calling for a boycott of Chick-fil-A, the latest episode in a series of conservative media campaigns against so-called woke companies, particularly those celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride. Despite Chick-fil-A’s conservative reputation, including the company chairman’s support of anti-LGBTQ causes, many conservative figures are now shunning Chick-fil-A for supposedly caving to left-wing demands:

• Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk accused Chick-fil-A of trying to “regain some likability with the secular marxists,” stating that the chain is “embracing a serpent ideology, which is DEI.” Kirk also decried DEI for being an “anti-white, anti-western project” that is also “against Christianity.” 
• Appearing on The Faulkner Focus, Jason Rantz noted that while the political right shouldn’t be attacking right-wing businesses, he said Chick-fil-A’s new DEI position “is the exact kind of nonsense that we have to push back against.” 
• Former Newsmax host Benny Johnson lambasted Chick-fil-A for embracing “Marxism” in its hiring of a DEI vice president. Johnson also said the company’s chairman Dan Cathy “betrayed his own religious beliefs” and criticized the company for trying to “‘create a culture of belonging’ except for Christians.”  
• Newsmax host Rob Schmitt criticized Chick-fil-A for “going woke,” adding that DEI is all about “Marxism.”
• Fox Business published an article titled “Chick-fil-A gets heat from Twitter users over DEI,” which linked Chick-fil-A to recent conservative outrage directed at Target and Bud Light.
• The Washington Stand posted an op-ed titled “Chick-fil-A Has Been Woke for Years. You Just Didn’t Want to Believe It.” The op-ed called Chick-fil-A’s DEI’s initiative an unforgivable “sin” since the company, “continues to exploit — and profit from — its Christian reputation.”
• Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis tweeted: “Why do companies care more about their DEI score than their customers and their own brand’s VALUES?? @ChickfilA needs to walk this back, ASAP.”
• The conservative think tank Family Research Council tweeted: “The fact that @ChickfilA is now chasing the approval of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion crowd is just the fruit of their recent capitulation. The only surprise is that so many Christians have either ignored Chick-fil-A's activism or lived in denial that it ever happened.”
• Charlie Kirk suggested Chick-fil-A is the latest victim of a movement to “pressure and demonize right wing companies to make them either go bankrupt or become one of your own,” adding, “Chick-fil-A is bragging about DEI statements and groveling for New York Times support. If they can’t break you, they make you join them. This is how they operate.” 
• Right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong called a 2020 video of Chick-fil-A’s CEO commenting on white people’s history of racial injustice, “beyond the pale.” In a piece for Rebel News, Cheong also criticized the restaurant chain for their “pro-DEI woke initiatives” that are “specifically tailored to women and racial minorities.”
• Conspiracy theorist James Lindsay tweeted: “I think we owe @ChickfilA an opportunity to tell their customers why they adopted DEI, etc, and push SEL education in their kids' books. Did they sign up willingly, or did someone bend their knee for them? They have a track record of standing up to pressure for their values.”
• On The Ingraham Angle, Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue blamed investment companies, saying, “Investment funds that have no agenda except to bring in wokeness which is another word for communism. They don't give a crap about the people. They're setting the agenda. It's not the companies. And, you know, it's the board who are put in by these woke investment companies.” 
• On Jesse Watters Primetime, Fox News host Tomi Lahren fearmongered about DEI changing who owns Chick-fil-A franchises, saying, “The real concern here is how the franchisees are going to be accepted. Is this going to play a role in that? Are you going to have to be, you know, a Black migrant refugee in a wheelchair to be able to get a Chick-fil-A franchise in the future?”