BBQ company under fire for LGBTQ ‘Liberty, Guns, Bible, Trump and BBQ’ slogan
The food company is facing criticism for the T-shirts (Facebook/Belle’s Smoking BBQ)
A BBQ food truck is facing criticism for an advertising campaign which used the LGBTQ acronym.
The owner of the Kentucky-based Belle’s Smoking BBQ, Jamie Smith, started telling T-shirts on social media with the slogan “Liberty, Guns, Bible, Trump, and BBQ”.
Smith told Fox News he started making the T-shirts two years ago.
“I found the acronym on Facebook and I just added the Q,” he said.
He said he had sold nearly 100 of the T-Shirts, but decided to advertised on social media to boost sales.
“I posted the shirt today for new swag and it just went out of hand and it got blowed up.”
The message he posted on Facebook stated: “We are going to stock up on some Swag. Hat and shirts. Let me know what yall want via text message.
“We are going to have our traditional Belles shirts, trucker hats. We will also have our LGBTQ shirts as well Belle’s logo on the back.”
Smith later took down the post, writing on social media: “We apologise if we have offended any groups of people, organisations or individuals with our shirts.
Belle’s Southern BBQ began selling the T-shirts two years ago (Fox News/Screengrab)
“We respect all beliefs and lifestyles and want no ill will towards anyone.
“We know each person has their own thoughts and beliefs but we are hurt that the people who are saying, ‘stop the hate’ are the ones coming at us with the harassing messages and threatening phone calls.
“Again we apologise for any hurt feelings and thank our supporters who truly know us.”
He told Fox he was planning to continue selling the T-shirts.
“At the end of the day we have to stand for what we believe in and like I said if I offended anyone that wasn’t our intention but it was just a play on words.”
Many social media users have criticised the food company for the acronym.
One person wrote: “There’s some goooooooood bbq in Kentucky, it’s so easy not to go to one that mocks the LGBTQ community.”
Another added: “They are going to lose a lot of business – and they deserve it.”
