For a few days last month, we couldn’t stop posting about the gay pastor who claimed that the bakery inside an Austin, Texas Whole Foods store added a slur to his “Love Wins” cake.

Pastor Jordan D. Brown quickly filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods, but the company came back with security footage that seemed to prove the pastor had in fact tampered with the cake after purchasing it. They filed a countersuit against him.

There were other problems with this story, too. The icing on the word “Fag” didn’t match up with the icing above it. Brown had recently defaulted on $27,000 in student loans and was being sued as a result, and this seemed like a convenient way to get sympathy money. His church’s address matched his personal address, which was unusual. (Could they have just been meeting in a shared social space? A manager at the apartment complex said no church was meeting there.)

Lots of weirdness. And perhaps the strangest bit of all was blaming Whole Foods, of all places, for being anti-gay. If Chick-fil-A made cakes, maybe you’d get somewhere, but when has Whole Foods ever been against the LGBT community? Come on now.

The New York Times reports today that Brown has finally admitted he made everything up:

“The company did nothing wrong,” the pastor, Jordan Brown, said in a statement. “I was wrong to pursue this matter and use the media to perpetuate this story.” He also apologized to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community “for diverting attention from real issues.” … Whole Foods said in a statement on Monday that it would drop its lawsuit. “We’re very pleased that the truth has come to light,” it said. “Given Mr. Brown’s apology and public admission that his story was a complete fabrication, we see no reason to move forward with our countersuit to defend the integrity of our brand and team members.”

He didn’t explain why he did it. His lawyer didn’t say anything either. His church sure as hell isn’t saying anything because no one knows if it even exists.

If Brown was trying to make himself rich, he picked an odd way to do it. Better stick to faith-healing next time.

(Thanks to Richard for the link)



