A recent viral video where a Black TikToker poked fun at her fellow Black coworkers has landed her in hot water, so much so that she was terminated from her job at Cracker Barrel.
“The Crackel is mad y’all,” TikToker Jayla (@jaayym00) says in response to her original video that’s gained over 12 million views.
In the viral clip, Jayla, who appears to be in the middle of a shift at Cracker Barrel, captures some of her Black coworkers dancing the Dougie to a folksy country song that recites various racial slurs toward Black people.
“Telling my coworkers to do the dougie without them hearing the sound,” Jayla captioned her video.
In a separate video, she claims she got a call from Cracker Barrel’s corporate headquarters asking her about the video and why she posted it. She says she told them it was just a joke, however the woman she spoke to pushed back, calling the video racist.
“I said m’am, I’m Black. And of course, she got quiet as fuck,” says Jayla, who was also told everyone in the video was called to ask if they were offended by the video.
A week later, Jayla says she was called into her manager’s office and was told she had been fired. In her termination paper, which she displayed on TikTok, the company states that Jayla’s original video “contained racial slurs that could be viewed as extremely offensive.” It also said she violated the Cracker Barrel social media policy and the discrimination and harassment policy. Jayla disagreed with their accusation.
“So on the paper it said ‘extremely offensive to other people.’ I did not offend anybody, ”Jayla says. “If I offended any of my Black people I apologize, but it’s a joke. The video had nothing to do with Cracker Barrel. Sorry your name is Cracker Barrel and you took it as me making fun of the company being racist or whatever… at this point the name is fucking Cracker Barrel. You’re the one offending people by having a restaurant called Cracker Barrel.”
The chain restaurant and its name have long been the center of controversy as some have associated it as a place that “feels racist.” Cracker Barrel has disputed claims that its name has racist ties or has anything to do with whips or slavery. Instead, it has described its name to derive from the barrels of soda crackers that used to be available at general stores around the country, according to PolitiFact. Cracker Barrel has not responded to the Daily Dot’s request for comment regarding Jayla’s video.
A majority of viewers in Jayla’s comments laughed at her song selection and poked fun at the restaurant themselves.
“Don’t know [if] this was the audio or already playing in the store” one commenter said.
“You at the right place to be playing that,” another commenter said.
“I’m so sorry you got fired but this is soooo funny,” a separate person said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Jayla via TikTok comment and Cracker Barrel via email.
