Home renovation royalty may have followed the spirit of the age straight into a Bud Light moment as Christian fans were having none of their justification for a new show’s controversial casting.
Known for making shiplap into a household term and giving Waco, Texas, a new reputation, former HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines brought a new program to streamers via their Magnolia Network. Aiming to take families “Back to the Frontier” on HBO Max, the “Fixer Upper” couple instead confronted backlash and seemingly played the victim after including a homosexual couple that fathered two children through surrogacy.
Late last week, the show that dropped three families into lives as 1880s homesteaders premiered as part of the network’s purported “family-friendly unscripted programming,” only to get readily ratioed for calling it “family time well spent.”
Sunday, Chip Gaines appeared to pull a victim card in defense of the casting as he posted on X, “Talk, ask [questions], listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge [first], understand later/never. Its a sad [S]unday when ‘non believers’ have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian.”
Talk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never
It’s a sad sunday when “non believers” have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian
— Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) July 13, 2025
Gaines also responded directly to The Babylon Bee’s managing editor Joel Berry who remarked that he could not let his kids watch the show, noting, “We should love the sinner–that doesn’t mean we celebrate and promote the sin and participate in the multibillion dollar industry dedicated to destroying the family,” by saying he appreciated the “advice about taking some of the thoughtful, heartfelt, encouraging constructive criticism to heart.. and I certainly will.”
Don’t be sad Joel.. plenty of other stuff out there. I’m sure everyone will be fine.
BUT I sincerely appreciate the advice about taking some of the thoughtful, heartfelt, encouraging constructive criticism to heart.. and I certainly will
— Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) July 13, 2025
Unfortunately for the entrepreneurial couple, who only days earlier were still winning hearts with a candid look at their 22-year marriage, prominent Christian voices collectively found the speck that Gaines was trying to point out in their eyes didn’t match the beam in his own.
“I hope this isn’t true, but I read today that Chip and Joanna Gaines are featuring a gay couple in their new series. If it is true, it is very disappointing,” said Samaritan’s Purse president Reverend Franklin Graham, among other reactions. “While we are to love people, we should love them enough to tell them the truth of God’s Word. His word is absolute truth. God loves us, and His design for marriage is between one man and one woman. Promoting something that God defines as sin is in itself sin.”
I hope this isn’t true, but I read today that Chip and Joanna Gaines are featuring a gay couple in their new series. If It is true, it is very disappointing. While we are to love people, we should love them enough to tell them the truth of God’s Word. His Word is absolute truth.…
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) July 12, 2025
Praying your pastor has the testicular fortitude to tell you and @joannagaines to repent of celebrating gay sex and motherless children.
— Seth Gruber (@sgruber91) July 13, 2025
Praying the Lord convicts you and your wife of your promotion of sin.
Also, I’m praying that your pastor provides a loving, Biblical rebuke of your promotion of sin and for your responses to Christians rightfully holding you to account.
Genuinely praying
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) July 13, 2025
bro what the hell pic.twitter.com/5aPbqKn8vt
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) July 11, 2025
Love is not “affirming” people in their sin, it is exhorting them out of it.
The most hateful thing you can do is let someone wallow in sin.
The Gaines’ definition of “love” is the pathway to hell. https://t.co/WD8KTw2ekn
— Michael Quinn Sullivan (@MQSullivan) July 14, 2025
The inclusion of the homosexual couple after years of taking heat for avoiding alphabet activism on their programming came as Disney-owned ABC also announced that Chip and Joanna Gaines would be “Guest Sharks” on the newest season of “Shark Tank.”
In addition to the surface level backlash from the family that had made their faith an integral part in their branding, Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, author of “Shepherd For Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded The Truth For A Leftist Agenda,” pointed out the story of a friend and employee of the Gaineses “who also claims to be a Christian,” who announced “that he is now gay and will be bringing his gay lover to live in the house with his wife and his five children.”
“You are SO good. We love you,” Joanna Gaines reacted to the announcement.
Basham contended, “The Gaineses are not lost sinners here. They are Pharisees. Publicly parading their false religion in the marketplace,” after noting, “The LGBTQ movement has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into swaying every aspect of the culture into embracing their behaviors and identities. That includes pouring money into foundations that are training people to come into churches and confuse unwary Christians about God’s created order for marriage and sexuality.”
“Speak up for even a couple of days about this, and you aren’t being like Jesus? No. There is something really sick in American Christianity’s soul that the reaction of so many to any unpleasant topic is, let’s just be nice like Jesus, even when it’s fellow Christians dishonoring Christ’s name! I don’t know if such people know this, but there are actually moments when it’s appropriate to turn over some tables.”
You’re a Christian. Your friend and employee, who also claims to be a Christian, announces that he is now gay and will be bringing his gay lover to live in the house with his wife and his five children.
As a Christian, how should you respond to this supposed brother?
Because… pic.twitter.com/ovfkqSqOQR
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) July 14, 2025
The Gaineses are not lost sinners here. They are Pharisees. Publicly parading their false religion in the marketplace.
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) July 15, 2025
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Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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