Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey slammed for supporting Chick-fil-A during Pride month
(Michael Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times)
The CEO of Twitter has been harshly criticised for supporting fast food chain Chick-fil-A.
On Saturday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a payment that he had made to the restaurant using Square, a mobile payment service he owns.
Chick-fil-A has previously been criticised for donating millions of dollars to anti-gay groups, including ones that support gay conversion therapy.
Dorsey made a payment to a Chick-fil-A restaurant on Saturday (@Jack / Twitter)
In 2012, it emerged that the fried chicken company had donated to causes including the Family Research Council, ‘gay cure’ group Exodus International and Focus on the Family.
CEO Dan Cathy then confirmed the company was opposed to marriage equality and “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family”.
Dorsey was quickly criticised for supporting the restaurant, with one person writing: “on behalf of the whole LGBTQ community, Jack, kindly boost your head out of your ass.”
“Delete this or follow up with how much free advertising you’re going to give GLAAD,” another wrote.
Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien challenged Dorsey over his support in a tweet, highlighting that Dorsey’s support was particularly bad during Pride month.
Dorsey was roundly criticised (@soledadobrien / Twitter)
“This is an interesting company to boost during Pride month, Jack,” O’Brien tweeted.
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Dorsey then appeared to backtrack his support for Chick-fil-A in a reply to O’Brien.
He then walked back his support (@Jack / Twitter)
He wrote: “You’re right. Completely forgot about their background.”
The 41-year-old CEO was then harshly criticised by supporters of the controversial chicken restaurant for apologising, with many praising Chick-fil-A for having “Christian values.”
Dorsey was then crticised from Chick-fil-A supporters (@marcus1320 / Twitter)
In response to his apology, one person wrote: “Their background. You mean a company that stands by its Christian values? Or a company that employs over 40,000 people?
“How about a company that gives scholarships to its employees? Stop with all this liberal ridiculousness. You enjoyed their food. Period.”
Chick-fil-A was harshly criticised in 2012 for its opposition to same-sex marriage, prompting many LGBT rights activists to host “kiss-ins” in protest.
LGBT rights activists held “kiss ins” in 2012 (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
The company responded to the criticism and initially appeared to distance itself from the CEO’s opposition to marriage equality.
The company stated: “Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”
However, the firm went on to cite its religious beliefs and support for making charitable donations, which included those to anti-gay groups.
