Wendy’s announced earlier this month that it would donate $500,000 to help the black community and promised “to amplify Black voices” on its Twitter account — before being targeted by rioters in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday night.
Protests erupted in outrage over the shooting death of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks, who was killed in a confrontation with police Friday in the parking lot of a Wendy’s. Brooks allegedly resisted arrest and took an officer’s taser as he fled.
Earlier this month, Wendy’s had backed the Black Lives Matter movement that mobilized after the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Wendy’s joined many other corporations in making large donations to organizations and voicing its support for the movement on social media.
Police tried to arrest Brooks after he fell asleep in the Wendy’s drive-thru, and allegedly failed a field sobriety test they administered on their arrival, attempting to flee afterwards.
CNN has backed the Black Lives Matter protests, editorially, but a CNN crew was attacked on Saturday evening outside the Wendy’s as rioters began to torch it.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.