Without mentioning the uproar over the brand's antigay history, Mario Lopez gave a seemingly oblivious shout-out to Chick-fil-A on Twitter that has him in trouble.
On October 7 the host of Extra tweeted, "Why does it seem like I always crave Chick-fil-A on Sundays?? #Frustrating."
Now he's drawing ire from the likes of Dan Savage and RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Willam Belli. Savage, an out columnist and founder of the It Gets Better Project, replied in a tweet to Lopez today, "Because you're a thoughtless jerk who just alienated the gay men you expected to buy your new line of crappy manpanties?"
Lopez does have a new line of men's underwear, called Rated M, that he has been promoting. In January, Lopez spoke with The Advocate about the underwear line, and praised his gay fans. When asked how gay fans are different from straight fans, Lopez said, "Gay fans are very loyal. And very cool. I'm honored to be embraced by the gay community. They're the smartest and the hippest. They determine what's hot out there."
RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Belli, who once created a music video mocking the fast-food chain, chided Lopez for his craving, tweeting, "Hatemeat is especially delicious on the sabbath."
Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on Sundays, a reflection of COO Dan Cathy's assertion that he runs his business on "biblical principles." In July, Cathy ignited a media firestorm with his comments and the company's $5 million worth of donations to antigay groups.