Texas pastor and founder of the Church of Open Doors Jordan D. Brown tweeted a photo Monday of a cake he had allegedly picked up from a local Whole Foods, saying, "That's not the cake I ordered, @WholeFoods and I am offended for myself & the entire #LGBT community."
The cake in the photo had "Love Wins i love you" written on it in frosting — a message that would likely be upsetting to many. The only problem? Whole Foods says Brown made the entire thing up.
In a statement on their website, Whole Foods maintained that the request had been for a cake that said "Love Wins," and that's what the customer got.
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 LGBTQ community, and the additional team members from the store, who confirmed the cake was decorated with only the message "Love Wins."
The letters in i love you were made by a different person, using a different sized decorating tip, imo.
Good eye. Attention whoring Pastor. Religion...
Aside from the cake being a lie, it is also fake.
Aside from the cake being a lie, it is also fake.
First mistake is shopping at Whole Foods.
1. Everything at Whole Foods looks delicious, but has no flavor. At least at the 3 or 4 shops I've been to. That includes both their buffet & bakery (excluding the bread).
2. They should have security cameras in the store, so it should be a simple matter of checking the footage of the cake pickup. Even on a low-res system, you should be able to see if there's some sort of writing in the middle of the cake or not.
3. Since the motives are being questioned by the media, the first question is: aren't religious leaders supposed to embody the rules, such as "turn the other cheek?" Why not drop the cake in the trash or scrape off the frosting & not make a big deal about it?
Also, why not complain to the checkout clerk or the local store manager? The box has a giant window with the word clearly visible in the middle, so it should have been a giant red flag at pickup in the store.
Whole foods has a buffet?
Never seen one in any of the locations I've been to here in TX.
Must have been a slow news day for someone to actually pick up such an obvious fakery as a news story.
An openly gay pastor is suing Whole Foods Market after a cake he ordered from the flagship store in Austin allegedly contained a gay slur.
The three-letter word written on the cake upset the pastor.
"For me, it was humiliating," said Jordan Brown. "The feeling that I had, just resurfaced a bunch of painful memories."
Brown is the founder and pastor of Austin's Church of Open Doors. He said Thursday, he went to the Austin-based grocer's downtown Austin store to get a cake for a member of his congregation. He asked the bakery employee to write "Love Wins" on it.
Brown said it took about five minutes, then he paid for the cake and left the store.
"I was rushing out," Brown said. "I have ordered multiple personalized cakes there before and I've never had a problem, an issue. And so I didn't think anything of it. 'Love Wins' is an easy, simple word."
Brown said while he was at the stoplight near the store, he noticed an additional word on the cake, a gay slur. He said he was too upset to go back into the store so instead he drove home where he shot a video of the cake box and says the label is still on it. Brown also called the store manager and said he was initially offered a gift card, but the manager said he would need to call him back. When he did, Brown said the manager told him there was nothing they could do for him.
"I checked with my client and, like me, he doesn't have icing at home," said Austin Kaplan, Brown's attorney. Kaplan said he and his client reached out to Whole Foods, but didn't get a response. So Monday afternoon, they filed a lawsuit against the grocer.
Whole Foods added that "no team members, including the cashier who rang the guest up, saw this word on the cake."
Kaplan said his client isn't lying.
"He didn't do it. Simply, he received the cake that way and if you look at the cake you can see that the icing is the same color and the same handwriting throughout the cake," Kaplan said.
"As a pastor and proud member of the LGBT community, I find it absolutely necessary to make a stand for what is right," Brown said. "At this time I am requesting that Whole Foods makes the necessary internal changes to ensure this never happens again."
In addition to that request, Brown is suing for emotional distress. The lawsuit does not specify a monetary amount.