BBQ business in Kentucky getting heat online over Trump ‘LGBTQ’ shirts
A barbecue business in Kentucky is facing a different kind of heat than it’s used to on social media lately for a shirt it sells featuring the text: “I support LGBTQ: Liberty, Guns, Bible, Trump, BBQ.”
The Belle’s Smokin’ BBQ, which operates its business from inside a food truck, is based in Williamstown, according to The Courier Journal.
{mosads}Jamie Smith, the owner of the business, told the newspaper that he and his staff had been wearing the shirts for over a year before they began facing backlash over its message this week, after they shared a photo of the shirt in a post on Facebook that has since been deleted.
Smith told the paper that he shared a photo of the shirt on Facebook on Thursday “at about 6, and at about 10 a.m. is when the threatening calls came.”
“Social media went berserk,” he continued.
Many online condemned the shirt’s spin on the LGBTQ acronym — which actually stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning or queer — as what they viewed to be discriminatory against LGBTQ persons. The business removed the post shortly after and issued an apology to those who were offended by the shirt.
“It wasn’t intended to single out any individual,” Smith said. “It takes all kinds to make the world go around.”
However, according to The Courier Journal, the news hasn’t been all bad for Smith’s business in heat of the backlash.
Since the controversy, his business reportedly lost one customer but gained four more. Smith also said he plans to continue selling the shirts, which he claims are currently sold out.
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