Conservative celebrity and possible
presidential candidate Ben Carson has defended a comment that bakers
opposed to gay marriage might poison the wedding cakes of gay
couples.
The former Johns Hopkins University
pediatric neurosurgeon and Fox News commentator made the remark over
the weekend during an appearance at the Iowa Freedom Summit organized
by Iowa Rep. Steve King.
“What I have a problem with is when
people try to force people to act against their beliefs because they
say 'they're discriminating against me.' So they can go right down
the street and buy a cake, but no, let's bring a suit against this
person because I want them to make my cake even though they don't
believe in it. Which is really not all that smart because they might
put poison in that cake.”
(Related: Baker
sued for refusing to make anti-gay cake raises cash for legal
expenses.)
Carson called criticism of the comment
“immature” during an appearance on Fox News.
“Now some are claiming that you're
suggesting that gays who complain about what they view as
discrimination risk getting poisoned,” The Kelly File host
Megyn Kelly told Carson.
“You know that would be a very
immature interpretation of what is a common saying: Never make your
waiter or your chef angry, because you don't know what they're gonna
put in your food,” Carson
responded.
In 2013, Carson stepped down as
commencement speaker at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for
linking marriage equality to bestiality and pedophilia, which drew a
loud outcry from students and faculty. In apologizing, Carson said
people had “taken the wrong meaning out of what I was saying.”