Whole Foods’ anti-gay cake: truth or hoax?
April 28, 2016
An anti-gay slur ended up on Texas pastor Jordan Brown’s pre-ordered Whole Foods cake last week, but conflicting stories have people wondering who’s actually at fault. Brown, an openly gay man, claims he ordered a cake with “Love Wins” written on it, but instead received a cake that had “Love Wins” written at the top and “Fag” written underneath it in the center of the cake. I am vehemently against gay discrimination, and at face value this seems like an attack from a homophobic Whole Foods employee. However, the other side of this tangled story has the Internet and myself doubting whether Brown’s claim is completely true.
The pastor filed a lawsuit against the company on April 18 and planned on suing them for emotional distress. Whole Foods claimed that their employees did not add the anti-gay slur to the cake. According to CNN, they have also filed a countersuit for defamation against him.
Brown claims that he was in such a hurry to pick up the cake that he did not notice the slur until his car ride home–despite it being fully visible from the package. Being too distraught to return to the store, Brown instead called the corporate office and was sent to voicemail. He then called the store manager who apologized, only to call him back shortly to assert that the bakery associate had done nothing wrong.
Whole Foods claims to have a strict, non-discrimination policy and zero tolerance for slurs such as the one on the cake. In fact, the cake decorator is a member of the LGBTQ community and claims the cake only had “Love Wins” written across the top, as instructed by Brown when it was packaged and sold. Other witnesses to the cake’s production corroborate this.
“Our team members do not accept or design bakery orders that include language or images that are offensive,” Whole Foods said.
Many people who believe Brown’s story is a hoax are drawing attention to the hand writing of “Love Wins” and “Fag” beneath it, with one individual saying it is clearly “the work of an amateur.” If this is the case, it saddens me that Brown would consider exploiting his homosexuality to make money in a world that already discriminates far too often.