An openly gay pastor says he ordered a cake from a Whole Foods store in Austin, Texas, that was only to have the phrase "Love Wins" written on it. When he returned to pick up the dessert, he says, he didn't notice that the words written on the cake were actually, "Love Wins [F—]."
In a YouTube video that he posted, the pastor, Jordan Brown—founder of the Church of Open Doors, a nondenominational, Christian-based church—says he didn't realize that the homophobic slur had been written on the cake until he was in his car. In the video, he shows what he says is the cake in the box, and the seal appears to be intact.
Brown says in the video that he called Whole Foods and spoke with an employee who was initially apologetic. Brown says the employee assured him that the issue would be handled and that the employee would call him back. However, Brown says that the employee called back a few hours later and told him that no one in the store had written the homophobic slur and that there was therefore nothing that could be done.
"Pastor Brown never asked for this to happen. He continues to be overwhelmed by the feelings of pain, anguish and humiliation because of this incident," Austin Kaplan, Brown's attorney, told KEYE. Brown has filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods, but he had reached out to Whole Foods' corporate office before doing so, Kaplan said.
"He frequently shopped at Whole Foods, which makes this all the more shocking and disappointing," Kaplan said. "What really concerns him is knowing that unless some action is taken, this kind of thing could happen again, and that someone else might have to go through a similarly excruciating experience."
Whole Foods released a statement to the news station declaring that none of its employees wrote the slur on the cake.
"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," the statement read, KEYE reports.
"Our team members do not accept or design bakery orders that include language or images that are offensive," the statement continued. "Whole Foods Market has a zero tolerance policy for discrimination."
Read more at KEYE.