Texas Roadhouse Controversy Exposed as a Screenshot Hoax | Jason Whitlock Harmony

**Jason Whitlock** (0:01)
America has beaten anti-black racism so badly, the market is dry.
Each hoax is proof. America, more than any country on the planet, has beat anti-black racism. Texas Roadhouse is the latest hoax to celebrate. Watch for yourself.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:20)
It started with a screenshot, a Facebook post shared across social media, making a serious claim about how some black customers' food was allegedly being treated. The post claimed members of a Facebook group called White and Proud were discussing intentionally tampering with food served to black customers. And the original Facebook post appears to have since been deleted. And so far, no verified evidence connecting the claims to a Texas Roadhouse employee. But screenshots of the post and videos talking about it continue to circulate. And customers are weighing in. Some say the allegations have them questioning whether they'll eat at the restaurant again. Others are asking for proof and questioning whether the original post is even legitimate.

**Jason Whitlock** (1:10)
We should propose a bill in Congress. Every time a racism hoax gets exposed, the nation gets a federal holiday. At the current pace, none of us would ever work again. That is not a joke about restaurants. That is a sales report. When the real product is scarce, the salesman manufactures it. Nancy Smith knew. She knew a screenshot would do the work a kitchen never did. No city, no store, no name tag, no plate. A Facebook group called White and Proud, a post that said cooks and servers at Texas Roadhouse and Logan's Roadhouse were licking their fingers and putting them on black people's food.
400,000 people in on the plot, then the account changed names and vanish.
And vanished. That is the Nolan Wells standard of racism. The accusation is the evidence. The screenshot is the indictment. The boycott is the sentence. You do not need a cook. You need a feeling with a racial noun on it.
Watch.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:15)
I waited to speak with the manager and asked about the allegations. The manager declined to speak on camera, instead referring me to the corporate's company office for a response. I also asked the restaurant's host what business had been like today. He told me it wasn't very busy, describing it as quote, pretty slow. But whether that's out of the ordinary for a Monday is unclear. And while the allegations are getting plenty of attention online, nothing in the viral post identifies the Abilene location or any specific Texas Roadhouse location. As the conversation grew online, Texas Roadhouse responded. On Sunday, August 23rd, the company posted an official statement, saying, We are aware of the video that is being shared with an accusation that has been made toward our restaurants. We believe it to be completely unfounded and we take every accusation towards our brand seriously.

**Jason Whitlock** (3:13)
Kyla Hamlet, a news reporter in Abilene, went looking for the crime. A manager would not talk on camera. A host said Monday was pretty slow. Nothing in that post named Abilene. Nothing named any Texas Roadhouse on this map. Corporate still had to crawl. August 23rd, they called the charge completely unfounded. By Wednesday, Travis Doster, their chief communications officer, said, The investigation found no tampering, no 400,000 member army, and a Nancy Smith account built, renamed and deleted. They hired a third party firm to hump the ghost. Snopes called the claims unfounded. Some of the same TikTok miles that lit the match later said hoax, and the fire did not care. BET still ran it like a question with a drum roll. Are white and proud servers really spitted in black people's food? They tied a deleted Facebook ghost to Carmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf. They treated a rumor as backlash and backlash as proof. Take a listen.

**SPEAKER_4** (4:21)
Are white and proud servers really spitting in black people's food at Texas Roadhouse? This is BET News. Okay, so a viral screenshot of a social post accused restaurant workers of deliberately tampering with black customers' food. The alleged behavior include touching food after licking their fingers and spitting on the minerals, literally the words white saliva were used.
And they only did this to black diners. The post also is said to be referencing Carmelo Anthony, a black teenager who was charged with murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of white teenager Austin Metcalf. The post stated that the alleged food tampering had been going on since y'all started this nonsense, implying that it was backlash against black communities defending Anthony.

**Jason Whitlock** (5:16)
That is the tale.
The bar for race for a racism claim is not high. It is on the floor. You do not jump it. You step on it. You need no kitchen, no name, no plate. You need a racial noun and a dinner roll. The accusation of racism is all the proof you need. Follow the transaction. Texas Roadhouse did not spit in a roll. A nameless account spat a story into the algorithm. The customers of that story are not the diners. They are believers. They were told to starve a steakhouse to feed a myth. 755 restaurants, more than 60 straight quarters of same store sales growth. Doster said they have seen no hit. The boycott was a costume. The holiday is the truth. The charge died, the country did not. A man does not trip on the same rumor 100 times unless the rumor pays. The pusher man does not retire, he restocks. Screenshot, outrage, boycott, retraction in the fine print. Next week, another kitchen. Grievance is inventory. A healed country is a threat to revenue. If your whole identity is victim, you need a villain on the clock, you need racism to exist or you can't breathe. That is the product, not honey butter, not a Facebook group that never punched a time clock. The product is the death of trust between black and white Americans, sold by people who cannot live without the smell of smoke. Scripture already named the hustle, thou shall not bear witness. The ninth commandment did not add unless it trends.