Teh One Who Knocks
04-20-2016, 11:22 AM
FOX News
http://i.imgur.com/SjfODpX.jpg
A Texas pastor is suing Whole Foods after receiving a cake decorated with an anti-gay slur he says a bakery worker added to his order.
Jordan Brown, an openly gay pastor who preaches at the non-denominational Church of Open Doors, ordered a cake from the chain’s flagship location in Austin, Texas on April 14 for a member of his congregation, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Travis County court.
In the store's bakery section, Brown says he pointed to a blank, pre-frosted cake with blue icing and asked the Whole Foods employee to write “Love Wins.” The pastor paid for the cake and left the store. But it was not until he was loading it into his car that he noticed something extra scrawled on his order.
He looked down and saw “Love Wins F**” had been scrawled in blue icing, according to the suit.
“For me it was humiliating. Because being a pastor who is openly gay, I've had to deal with this in the past," Brown told FOX Austin.
Brown says his first call to Whole Foods corporate went unreturned. He was able to reach someone at the flagship store, Team Leader Geoff Nunez, who was initially “extremely apologetic,” according to Brown, and asked that the matter be handled internally.
But after waiting two hours, Brown says Nunez called back and said there was “nothing he could do.”
The company has now issued a statement regarding the incident, in which they deny any wrongdoing by employees:
“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.’”
On Monday, Kaplan Law Firm, which is representing Brown, posted a video filmed by the pastor on April 14 in which he shows an unopened, sealed box with the cake in question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p972qntg1qM
Brown is suing Whole Foods for intentional infliction of emotional distress. He says the slur on the cake has dredged up painful memories.
Says the pastor, “The feeling that I had just resurfaced a bunch of painful memories of things that have happened to me.”
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Whole Foods announced that it had filed a countersuit against Brown, alleging that the pastor “intentionally, knowingly and falsely accused Whole Foods and its employees of writing the homophobic slur… on a custom made cake that he ordered from WFM’s Lamar Store in Austin…” reports My Statesman. The Austin-based grocery chain released security footage from the flagship store that they claim proves Brown tampered with the original cake packaging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyoluahNZZs
“After reviewing their security footage of Mr. Brown, it’s clear that the UPC label was in fact on top of the cake box, not on the side of the package,” Whole Foods said in a statement.
The company said it stands by the employees of the Austin store who deny any wrongdoing.
Whole Foods has accused Brown of damaging its reputation and is seeking at least $100,000 in damages from the pastor.
http://i.imgur.com/SjfODpX.jpg
A Texas pastor is suing Whole Foods after receiving a cake decorated with an anti-gay slur he says a bakery worker added to his order.
Jordan Brown, an openly gay pastor who preaches at the non-denominational Church of Open Doors, ordered a cake from the chain’s flagship location in Austin, Texas on April 14 for a member of his congregation, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Travis County court.
In the store's bakery section, Brown says he pointed to a blank, pre-frosted cake with blue icing and asked the Whole Foods employee to write “Love Wins.” The pastor paid for the cake and left the store. But it was not until he was loading it into his car that he noticed something extra scrawled on his order.
He looked down and saw “Love Wins F**” had been scrawled in blue icing, according to the suit.
“For me it was humiliating. Because being a pastor who is openly gay, I've had to deal with this in the past," Brown told FOX Austin.
Brown says his first call to Whole Foods corporate went unreturned. He was able to reach someone at the flagship store, Team Leader Geoff Nunez, who was initially “extremely apologetic,” according to Brown, and asked that the matter be handled internally.
But after waiting two hours, Brown says Nunez called back and said there was “nothing he could do.”
The company has now issued a statement regarding the incident, in which they deny any wrongdoing by employees:
“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.’”
On Monday, Kaplan Law Firm, which is representing Brown, posted a video filmed by the pastor on April 14 in which he shows an unopened, sealed box with the cake in question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p972qntg1qM
Brown is suing Whole Foods for intentional infliction of emotional distress. He says the slur on the cake has dredged up painful memories.
Says the pastor, “The feeling that I had just resurfaced a bunch of painful memories of things that have happened to me.”
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Whole Foods announced that it had filed a countersuit against Brown, alleging that the pastor “intentionally, knowingly and falsely accused Whole Foods and its employees of writing the homophobic slur… on a custom made cake that he ordered from WFM’s Lamar Store in Austin…” reports My Statesman. The Austin-based grocery chain released security footage from the flagship store that they claim proves Brown tampered with the original cake packaging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyoluahNZZs
“After reviewing their security footage of Mr. Brown, it’s clear that the UPC label was in fact on top of the cake box, not on the side of the package,” Whole Foods said in a statement.
The company said it stands by the employees of the Austin store who deny any wrongdoing.
Whole Foods has accused Brown of damaging its reputation and is seeking at least $100,000 in damages from the pastor.