Dessert store manager ‘goes on repulsive paedophiles rant’ after woman asks for a Drag Race birthday cake
T. Bear’s Creamery in Windsor, Canada is facing backlash after it refused to make a cake with an image of Canada’s Drag Race queen Jimbo on it. (World of Wonder)
A Canadian dessert store is under fire after it refused to make a drag-themed cake, with a manager allegedly then going on a foul, homophobic rant.
Brittany Leroux told Windsor Star that she put in an ice cream cake order with T. Bear’s Creamery in Windsor, Canada for her husband, John.
The cake was to be decorated with a picture of Jimbo, John’s favourite contestant from Canada’s Drag Race.
When she called the dessert shop, she said, an employee asked her what a drag queen was. After Leroux explained, the employee denied her request for the cake.
“I was shocked,” Leroux told CBC.
She called T. Bear’s Creamery back and asked to speak with the manager about the Drag Race cake. His alleged response was even more shocking.
“He started trying to compare drag queens to paedophiles,” Leroux said. “I was like, these are human beings. These are not criminals.”
She told the Windsor Star later that the manager said: “We don’t do something regarding paedophiles.
“There’s things we don’t want to come in the store.
“I don’t support drag queens photos of men dressed as women or women dressed as men.
“We don’t do it. We haven’t done it, and we won’t do it.”
Even though Leroux isn’t a member of the LGBT+ community, she was appalled by the “few minutes of hate and discrimination” she experienced, something she acknowledges LGBT+ people face “every minute of every day”.
Don Moore, owner of T. Bear’s Creamery, told CBC that he had issued an apology to customers who have complained about store’s comments about drag and the Drag Race cake.
He said he had gotten “so many emails” from the community that he wasn’t “sure who the original person was because it was on the phone”.
“But we’ve got, we’ve already covered that off and we’ve moved on and we just dealt with it and, and we’re good,” Moore said.
He would not provide a copy of the apology to CBC.
The T. Bear’s Creamery website now has a statement about the situation. It claimed the store policy on photos “transposed onto cakes” does not “permit the use of ‘sensual’ photos”. The dessert shop added it did not “properly communicate this policy”.
“We are aware that the term ‘sensual’ can be broadly defined and is open to interpretation, and in the interest of avoiding any further miscommunication, we will no longer offer this service,” the statement read.
Even Jimbo herself weighed in on the issue. The Drag Race star wished T. Bear’s Creamery a “happy Pride“, adding: “I don’t want my face on your nasty cheap little cake anyway.”
Happy Pride T. Bears Creamery in Windsor…I don’t want my face on your nasty cheap little cake anyway
— Jimbo (@jimbodragclown) June 14, 2021
Leroux told the Windsor Times that Drag Race helped her through the lockdowns, her first pregnancy and postpartum depression. She said the queens are “funny” and “make you laugh”.
“I can’t imagine what they [competitors] go through, and they just bring light,” Leroux said. “They want to make people happy.”
