White House Mocks Fox News With Pride Cupcakes

Progress Pride Flag Cupcakes and the Presidential Seal

White House communications staff insist that the network retract its inflammatory story that falsely reported the flag celebrates “groomers” and “pedophiles.”

Christopher Wiggins

Christopher Wiggins is The Advocate’s senior national reporter in Washington, D.C., covering the intersection of public policy and politics with LGBTQ+ lives, including The White House, U.S. Congress, Supreme Court, and federal agencies. He has written multiple cover story profiles for The Advocate’s print magazine, profiling figures like Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, longtime LGBTQ+ ally Vice President Kamala Harris, and ABC Good Morning America Weekend anchor Gio Benitez. Wiggins is committed to amplifying untold stories, especially as the second Trump administration’s policies impact LGBTQ+ (and particularly transgender) rights, and can be reached at christopher.wiggins@equalpride.com or on BlueSky at cwnewser.bsky.social; whistleblowers can securely contact him on Signal at cwdc.98.

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Christopher Wiggins

June 23 2023 4:55 PM EST

June 23 2023 7:14 PM EST

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The White House continues to highlight recent reckless reporting by Fox News regarding the White House Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn earlier this month. The far-right network recently ran a story critical of the flag flown during the celebration, calling the Progress Pride Flag one that celebrates “groomers” and “pedophiles.”

The outrageous story received immediate backlash.

Some pointed out that Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, itself changed its corporate logo to resemble the Progress Pride Flag in a recent report about corporate inclusivity.

On Friday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates shared an image of multicolored cupcakes with the Progress Pride Flag printed on frosting.

“Cupcakes in solidarity with @FOXCorp, which @FoxNews is attacking w/ a malicious, still-not-retracted digital article,” Bates wrote on Twitter.

— (@)

Bates sent a subsequent tweet showing him delivering cupcakes to the Fox News booth at the White House press corps workspace.

“We delivered some to the good folks in the @FoxNews offices here at the White House,” he captioned the photograph.

— (@)

He has been critical of Fox News since the network ran a false and inflammatory headline that it changed after he exposed the network’s hypocrisy.

The headline of the Fox News article criticizing the Pride flag hung between two American flags on the White House portico originally read: “White House flew controversial new transgender flag that promotes grooming and pedophilia, say critics.”