Chick-fil-A has been accused of being racist after telling a black Twitter user that his ‘community’ would be the first to know when a new menu item is stocked.
On September 9, the fast-food company responded to a user querying when the chain will add spicy chicken nuggets to its menus.
‘Your community will be the first to know if spicy items are added to the permanent menu, Don!’ Chick-fil-A wrote.
The chain was immediately hit with a flood of tweets accusing it of being racist, and with users asking whether it was referring to the black community.
‘What do you mean ‘your community’???????’ one response reads.
‘Your community?’ another Tweet says. ‘I’m gonna need explanation for that comment. ‘Our’ community wouldn’t wanna think that there were some racial undertones behind that.’
Chick-Fil-A’s response came after a query by a customer wondering when the chain would add spicy chicken nuggets to its menu
Twitter users called out the fast-food chain for its usage of the phrase ‘your community’ in response to a black user’s query about a menu item
Among the over 1,700 replies to the tweet are users questioning whether Chick-fil-a meant the black community when using the word ‘community’
Chick-fil-A was collectively condemned by the social media platform’s users accusing the chain of racism
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson said the use of the phrase is in reference to the locations the fast-food chain occupies, though the company’s usage of ‘your community’ was ‘a poor choice of words’
‘Chic … this aint (sic) a good look,’ another user said. ‘What do you mean by that specifically?’
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson responded to the social media backlash in a comment to NBC News.
‘The response was a poor choice of words, but was not intended in any way to be insensitive or disrespectful,’ they said.
‘We often use the term ‘community’ in a broader sense to talk about places where we operate restaurants and serve the surrounding community.’
Some Twitter users were quick to point out the company’s usage of the phrase ‘your community’ in the same connotation the spokesperson referred to
Some Twitter users responded to other tweets calling out the fast-food chain by complementing the company’s statement.
‘All jokes aside, they reply like this frequently,’ one user said before posting a screenshot of another Chick-fil-A tweet using the phrase.
The tweet reads: ‘Hi there! We know our customers love the heat, so we’re testing spicy items in different markets. We’ll be sure to let your community know if spicy items are added into our permanent menu!’
Other responses included more users pointing out the company’s frequent use of the phrasing, including one which highlights multiple tweets sent within the last two weeks.
‘Y’all hilarious,’ one writes.
The social media backlash follows boycotts of the chain in recent years in response to the company’s past donations to anti-LGBTQ groups.