Whole Foods is taking claims that an employee wrote a homophobic slur on a custom cake so seriously that it's countersuing the guy who made them. Church of Open Doors pastor Jordan Brown, who is openly gay, sued Whole Foods on Monday after a video showed a cake from a Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas, with a homophobic slur written in icing beneath the words "Love Wins," apparently still in sealed, mostly clear packaging. Brown says he was "horrified" by the "extremely offensive and humiliating" cake, which was intended for his congregation, per the Austin American-Statesman. But Whole Foods is backing up its employees, who deny writing the slur, noting store surveillance video shows no slur on the cake as Brown paid for it on April 14, the American-Statesman reports.
Brown "intentionally, knowingly and falsely accused Whole Foods and its employees of writing the homophobic slur" and "has damaged the reputation and business of WFM," the company says in a countersuit filed Tuesday. "We stand behind our bakery team member, who is part of the LGBTQ community." The store, seeking $100,000 in damages, says Brown also moved a UPC label—seen on the top of the cake box in surveillance video—to the side of the packaging to act as a seal. Social media users debating the case accuse Brown of writing the slur himself, noting he would've seen the cake design clearly while purchasing it. One user claiming to be a cake decorator says the cake "was obviously altered," per the Washington Post, adding the slur wasn't even written with the same icing tip as "Love Wins." (More Whole Foods stories.)
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