Pastor Jordan Brown of Austin, Texas, is suing the grocery store chain Whole Foods for “emotional damage” after he claims he received a custom cake with an anti-gay slur written in icing on it.
Brown ordered the cake with “LOVE WINS” on it, but he claims someone at the store added the word “FAG” in the middle of it. He claims he didn’t notice the word, clearly visible on the top of the cake, until he’d gotten to his car. Rather than go back inside the store, Brown went home and filmed a video expressing his outrage.
Austin Pastor Jordan Brown says he ordered a “Love Wins” cake @WholeFoods & this is what he got. Speaking to him now pic.twitter.com/FDq0Y45OSC
— Stef Manisero (@Stef_TWCNews) April 18, 2016
For its part, Whole Foods denies the offending word was added by anyone in their store, releasing the following statement:
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 the offending word appear to be different than the writing of the “LOVE WINS” on the cake, particularly the “G,” which is rounded like an incomplete “6.”
Brown, who is gay, says he did not open the cake before filming it at home, showing what appears to be a still sealed cake in his self-filmed video.
Brown is demanding a jury trial and unspecified damages.
WATCH:
Here is the video Brown filmed of himself showing the cake.