Pastor claims Whole Foods sold a cake with homophobic slur
A homosexual pastor in Austin says he ordered a cake from "Whole Foods" that was supposed to say: "Love Wins." Instead of that simple phrase Jordan Brown says: the store's bakery added a homophobic slur last Thursday.
Brown is pastor of The Church of Open Doors, an LGBT welcoming congregation in Austin. Thursday when he went to Whole Foods Market to order cake for one of his members, he claims a slur was written in icing on the cake.
"For me it was humiliating. Because being a pastor who is openly gay, I've had to deal with this in the past," Brown said.
Brown says he orders cakes from the North Lamar store all the time, so much he's gotten comfortable with the service.
"I grabbed it, and I didn't even look at it," he said.
Brown's attorney Austin Kaplan says they reached out to whole foods but did not get an answer, but Fox 7 did. They say quote:
Our team member wrote "love wins" at the top of the cake as requested by the guest, and that's exactly how the cake was packaged and sold at the store. Our team members do not accept or design bakery orders that include language or images that are offensive. Whole foods market has a zero tolerance policy for discrimination. We stand behind our bakery team member, who is part of the LGBT community, and the additional team members from the store, who confirmed the cake was decorated with only the message "Love Wins.
"We can refer the viewers and the world to the video my client took that's available on YouTube and shows the cake is sealed with Whole Foods's sticker on it," Kaplan said.
Brown is suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress. He says the slur on the cake made him think of times in his past that weren't so great.
"The feeling that I had just resurfaced a bunch of painful memories of things that have happened to me," Brown said.
Brown's attorney says they have not decided on a dollar amount to seek in the lawsuit.
An Austin pastor is outraged after, he claims, a cake he ordered from Whole Foods had a homophobic slur.
Pastor Jordan Brown, who is gay, said he ordered a cake with the phrase "Love Wins," instead his cake said "Love Wins F**." Brown claims he did not know the slur was on the cake until he left the store.
Kaplan Law Firm said they have filed a lawsuit on behalf of Brown, who is the founder of the "Church of Open Doors."
Whole Foods denies the cake left the store with the offensive word. They issued this statement.
The team member wrote 'Love Wins' at the top of the cake as requested by the guest and that's exactly how the cake was packaged and sold at the store. Our team members do not accept or design bakery orders that include language or images that are offensive. Whole foods market has a zero tolerance policy for discrimination.
A video of Brown, speaking on the incident, was posted on Kaplan Law Firm's YouTube page.