Whole Foods is fighting back against a gay Texas pastor who claims to be the victim of discrimination, denouncing his accusation that the grocery chain gave him a cake reading, "Love Wins F—," the New York Daily News reports.
The company is countersuing Jordan Brown for $100,000, saying that he made up his story. It has also released surveillance footage showing that Brown picked up the cake at a Whole Foods store in Austin, Texas, clearly looked through the transparent packaging and did not notice any slur during the checkout process, according to the Daily News.
"We believe his accusations are fraudulent and we intend to take legal action against both Brown and his attorney," the company said in a statement. The company noted that the bar code for the cake was at the top of the packaging during checkout, but in Brown's later video it was seen on the side and bottom of the box, according to the Daily News.
In the original lawsuit, Brown claimed that he noticed the slur after peeking at the cake at a stoplight.
Whole Foods also said that the baker behind the cake was a member of the "LGBTQ community," adding that Brown's lawsuit was "completely false and directly contradicts Whole Foods Market's inclusive culture, which celebrates diversity."
Brown, the openly gay founder of the Church of Open Doors, filed his lawsuit Monday seeking unspecified damages because of alleged discrimination.
"Pastor Jordan spent the remainder of the day in tears. He was and is extremely upset," the lawsuit said. "It is impossible to calculate the emotional distress these events have caused."
Brown's lawyer, Austin Kaplan, told the Daily News that the slur was not a hoax.
"My client doesn't have blue icing in his house," Kaplan said. "He received the cake this way."
Read more at the New York Daily News.