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What Does 'Cracker Barrel Has Fallen' Mean, And Has It Really Fallen?
Over the past week, an earworm of a phrase has been rattling 'round the brains of Twitter users: "Cracker Barrel Has Fallen." Has the beloved American restaurant chain been taken over by invaders? Has the mac and cheese recipe been stolen by Russian intelligence? Allow us to explain why "Cracker Barrel has fallen" has become a bizarre meme over the past few days.
What Is "Cracker Barrel Has Fallen?"
On Thursday, June 8th, the Texas Family Project dramatically declared, amidst a series brands getting "cancelled" by some conservatives for allegedly "catering to the woke mob" (see: Ford, Chick-fil-A, Bud Light, Target, Xbox, M&Ms, Home Depot and Call of Duty), that American restaurant chain Cracker Barrel had given into the "wokes." As they put it, "Cracker Barrel has fallen."
This has nothing to do with the time Cracker Barrel had "gone woke" before (a 2022 incident where the chain introduced plant-based burgers). This time, Cracker Barrel had "given into the mob" by catering a Pride event in Nashville, Tennessee.
Why Did "Cracker Barrel Has Fallen" Become A Meme?
The anti-woke brigade has targeted multiple companies in quick succession in recent months, leading to a general saturation of and exhaustion with anti-woke backlash on social media. The Texas Family Project's tweet seemed to underline the absurdity of these campaigns to many on social media. It soon became a popular gag online to transpose "Cracker Barrel has fallen" into overly dramatic memes.
In particular, many memers edited the phrase onto movie poster parodies of the Gerard Butler action flick Olympus Has Fallen, which is about saving the President from a terrorist attack, perfectly juxtaposing that dramatic circumstance with the less-dire event of Cracker Barrel catering a Pride event in a park.
Summary
The phrase "Cracker Barrel has fallen" captured the histrionic tenor of similar boycotts and backlash campaigns for what many consider complete non-issues — just the week prior to "Cracker Barrel Had Fallen" hitting the web, a Turning Point USA post went viral for saying to Chick-Fil-A (whose "crime" was hiring a VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) was "No longer the Lord's Chicken," but the Woke Chicken.
For more information, check out Cracker Barrel has fallen on Know Your Meme.
