Karens or BLM rioters? Internet debates who torched Wendy’s restaurant after Atlanta police shooting

The destruction of a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta has split the internet, with some insisting that black protesters will be blamed for setting fires started by white people. But the video evidence is far from clear.

The fast food joint went up in flames after a black man, Rayshard Brooks, was shot and killed by police in an adjacent parking lot after resisting arrest on Friday. His death prompted protests and resignations in Atlanta police department while an investigation is underway. A mob also turned its anger on the restaurant where staff reportedly called the police after Brooks passed out in his car while waiting in the drive-thru and set it ablaze.

Yet there’s considerable disagreement and debate over the identities of the perpetrators as well as their motives. Isaac Hayes III, the son of legendary soul musician Isaac Hayes, insisted that no black people were involved in setting the fire.

“There are black people who have lost their jobs at this Wendy’s cause of this white arsonist,” he wrote, including a video which purports to show a “white girl” burning down the building.

Although the footage is far from conclusive (it appears to show a white woman using some sort of spray can as she leans through a broken window), many seemed to agree with Hayes’ analysis.

Several joked that it was clear that “Karen” was behind the criminal deed. The somewhat derogatory name typically refers to easily riled white women, who came to prominence as fanatical enforcers of coronavirus lockdown protocols.

Several videos show black protesters breaking windows and then entering the restaurant, although it’s not clear if they had any involvement in the blaze.

The fast food chain has been mocked for “bending the knee” to the Black Lives Matter movement, which it openly supported in a series of tweets earlier this month.

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