An openly gay pastor on Monday admitted
that he faked a story about buying a cake at Whole Foods that
included an anti-gay slur.
“The company did nothing wrong,”
Jordan Brown said in a statement. “I was wrong to pursue this
matter and use the media to perpetuate this story.”
At an April 18 press conference, Brown,
flanked by his lawyers, announced that he was suing the grocery store
over the incident.
In a YouTube video, Brown claimed that
he had ordered a cake at the company's flagship Austin store with the
phrase “Love Wins” but received a cake that said “Love Wins
F*g.” The cake could be seen in the video through the clear
portion of the box. Brown said that he did not notice the change
until he had left the store.
Whole Foods denied the claims and
announced that it was counter suing Brown.
In his video, Brown pointed out the UPC
sticker on the box, which ran on the side and bottom, saying that the
box had not been tampered with. Whole Foods, however, released
footage of a cashier scanning the box from the top, not the side.
In its lawsuit, Whole Foods said that
Brown “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.”
According to the Austin
American-Statesman, Whole Foods has dropped its counter suit.
“Given Mr. Brown's apology and public
admission that his story was a complete fabrication, we see no reason
to move forward with our counter suit to defend the integrity of our
brand and team members,” the company said.