Out of the loop

Racists gonna racist.

It's not the employees either... I've worked with a few, and overall the tone at their corporate is pretty inclusive since some time ago. They purged a bunch of problematic folks at least a decade or more back and have been doing better. They've spent the past 2-3 years trying to branch out and become more appropriate for modern and widespread audiences, including a store that was basically a completely different restaraunt (not named the same either).

Then a minor change which should otherwise be "meh" got noticed by those who romanticize the 50's and it became a target.

The resulting wave of rich douchebags pushing that they were now woke caused stock to drop, which they then reacted to because shareholders gonna sharehold... They are reverting the logo and have attempted to quietly remove the DEI and inclusion public documents to try to avoid the Trump machine more.

Eh. I liked several of the folks who work there, but if the company falls I don't think they will be all that surprised after the past few years (both politically, and corporate mishaps).