Jordan Brown, an openly gay pastor in Austin, TX, announced on Monday that he will be dropping his lawsuit against Whole Foods Market over the false allegation that the supermarket added a slur to the cake he ordered to say “Love Wins.” Also on Monday, the company revealed that it will also be dropping its countersuit against Brown.
“The company did nothing wrong,” Brown wrote in a statement on Monday. “I was wrong to pursue this matter and use the media to perpetuate this story.”
“I want to apologize to Whole Foods and its team members for questioning the company’s commitment to its values, and especially the baker associate who I understand was put in a terrible position because of my actions,” Brown added. The baker responsible for the cake also identified as “part of the LGBTQ community,” according to a Whole Foods statement, and it is truly and sadly ironic that Brown accused another gay person of adding an anti-gay slur to his cake.
“I apologize to the LGBT community for diverting attention from real issues,” the Texas pastor concluded. “I also want to apologize to my partner, my family, my church family, and my attorney.”
Brown announced the lawsuit on April 18, posting a video showing the cake he ordered with the letters “F-A-G” written beneath the message “Love Wins.” Many news outlets realized the icing with the anti-gay slur was a different color than the icing of the original message, but only after Brown’s original post attracted a good deal of attention.
The next day, Whole Foods Market responded with a countersuit, and released a video which thoroughly disproved Brown’s claims.
The pastor’s original video focused on a cake seal at the bottom of the box, arguing that since the seal was unbroken, he could not have added the slur himself. The Whole Foods video showed an associate scanning the seal at the top of the box, conclusively proving that the pastor not only opened the box, but moved the “unbroken” seal to the bottom.
In its statement last month, Whole Foods listed four reasons why Brown’s claims were fraudulent. The company declared that it has “a strict policy that prohibits team members from accepting or designing” offensive words or images on cakes. Whole Foods emphasized that Brown’s video “showed the UPC label on the bottom and side of the box,” while the footage shows the label “on top of the box, not on the side of the package.”
“We stand behind our bakery team member, who is part of the LGBTQ community, and we appreciate the team members and shoppers who recognize that this claim is completely false and directly contradicts Whole Foods Market’s inclusive culture, which celebrates diversity,” the statement concluded.
Next Page: Isn’t it fishy the gay pastor sued Whole Foods? Also, here’s the real lawsuit that might have caused this whole fracas.
PJ Media’s own Stephen Kruiser made that exact point, “There were a lot of people who immediately smelled something fishy here — a Whole Foods Market in Austin just didn’t seem like the place for a random act of anti-gay cake decorating. Actually it seemed unlikely that it would happen at a Whole Foods anywhere.” This confirms the recent trend of “leftists lying about being victimized.”
In response to Brown dropping the lawsuit, Whole Foods announced that it will drop its own suit against the Austin pastor. “We’re very pleased that the truth has come to light,” the company wrote. “Given Mr. Brown’s apology and public admission that his story was a complete fabrication, we see no reason to move forward with our counter suit to defend the integrity of our brand and team members.”
There may be more to Brown’s lawsuit than at first appeared. A month before the gay pastor’s publicity stunt, he was sued for defaulting on a $27,000 student loan, NBC’s local affiliate, KXAN, reported in April. Perhaps this situation led the gay pastor to a desperate act, a last-ditch attempt to raise money to pay off his creditors.
The original video complaint was made private on YouTube and the pastor’s Twitter account vanished late last month. Perhaps the bigger question is not why Brown finally gave in, but why he waited so long to do so.
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