Who Is Nanette, Brad's Wife? Cracker Barrel Firing Inspires Memes, Calls For Justice

If you've been on social media at all this week, amid the National Puppy Day photos and leftover St. Patrick's Day snaps, you likely saw a curious hashtag: #justiceforbradswife. You may have asked yourself, "Who is Brad?" "What did his wife do?" "Why does she need justice?"

Here are some answers about the latest internet trend.

Read: Pokémon Go' Memes Have Everyone Asking 'Who's That Pokémon?

Last month, Bradley Reid Byrd posted a Facebook status from his town in Indiana lambasting Cracker Barrel for firing his wife from her job there. His wife, whom he called Nanette, had allegedly worked for the Southern country restaurant for 11 years before being let go.

"Their half assed excuse was that she wasn't working out. After 11 YEARS? Come on," he wrote. "This old boy is STORMING!!!!"

On Tuesday, Byrd took his storm to the Cracker Barrel Facebook page, which Reddit discovered long ago was a fount of jokes, and demanded an explanation for Nanette's termination. Then, as people in 2017 tend to do, he went viral.

His message was posted on Twitter by a comedian, and the internet seized upon it. They began sharing the hashtag #justiceforbradswife, spreading memes about her and editing the Cracker Barrel Wikipedia page, the Washington Post reported. As of Friday afternoon, people were still flooding unrelated Cracker Barrel status updates with comments criticizing them for firing Nanette and organizing against the store with outraged messages like #NotMyCrackerBarrel and #WeWantAnswers.

One concerned follower of the case started a Change.org petition requesting to know the reason Nanette was let go. More than 18,000 people signed over six days.

Meanwhile, Byrd has continued to stir the metaphorical pot on Facebook, thanking his supporters and asking readers to keep sending questions and comments to the Cracker Barrel corporate office rather than franchise locations.

"As it goes along, we may be able to say more, but right now, we can't say anything about what happened and why," he said in a statement Friday to WAVE 3.

Cracker Barrel hasn't commented publicly about Nanette, Byrd or #justiceforbradswife.