Fixer Upper stars and Magnolia executives Chip and Joanna Gaines have come under fire from their evangelical fanbase for including a homosexual couple on their new HBO show, Back to the Frontier. Chip has defended his family’s position repeatedly on X, to the confusion and disappointment of many fans and pastors.
Chip and Joanna settled into a pattern of success in 2013–2015, when they started their HGTV show Fixer Upper and opened Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas. After Magnolia Market launched, there were numerous other successful Magnolia ventures taken by the couple, and their business empire was successfully established.
The couple has not hesitated to share their Christian testimony with their consumers throughout their business journey. Because of the transparency surrounding the Gaines’s faith, a large portion of their fan base consists of evangelical Christians who are attracted to the couple’s personal journeys as much as their products.
Though sometimes lauded as an ideal Southern Christian family, the Gaineses have demonstrated an aptitude for progressivism before. During the heat of the Black Lives Matter movement, Joanna posted a black square to her social media account, promising to “listen and learn.” During the Target boycott, the couple was severely scrutinized for their partnership with the company, which remained unchanged despite Target’s promotion of pride propaganda and products.
With the launch of their new show, Back to the Frontier, affiliations with the LGBTQ+ movement have landed the celebrity couple in hot water once again.
Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs were one of three couples chosen to lead the series. The couple was inspired to apply for the show after seeing a gay couple included in the flyer. Hanna and Riggs are not just a gay couple; the two men are famous on social media for their “family” content and are notorious activists. The couple was provided with two boys through surrogacy, and participated in a legal battle to have both of their names placed on the boys’ birth certificates. (RELATED: The Spectator P.M. Ep. 155: Gay Couple With Surrogate-Born Children Appears on Chip and Joanna Gaines’ New Show)
“It was this great, amazing opportunity to normalize same-sex couples and same-sex families,” praised the men.
Notoriously progressive, HBO may have had a hand in casting the show. However, as executive directors, the Gaineses had the final say and ability to prevent the couple from joining the series. Given the Gaines’s Christian testimony juxtaposed to Riggs and Hanna’s clear mission to promote disordered marriages, the casting took the Fixer Upper fan base by surprise.
“When you decide money and fame are more important than the gospel,” wrote one X user, “that speaks louder than anything else you might say about Jesus.”
“People aren’t overreacting when they comment on how evil it is,” commented another, “you’re just desensitized to how sexual degeneracy has polluted God’s design.”
Many users highlight Bible passages and Christian principles, attempting to call the Gaines’s attention to their supposed roots as Christians. Other commenters focus on the boys that the two men have effectively purchased through surrogacy: “Two men engaging in a homosexual relationship while custom ordering two young boys is not a family,” said one commentator.
Countless dissenting comments fill Chip’s X platform, which speaks to the high concentration of Christian fans who supported Magnolia in the past. Readers are hard-pressed to find positive comments regarding the company’s newest stunt.
In response, Chip claimed that the modern church is quick to judge and takes no time to understand. He chastised Christians and pastors in the comments, asserting that those who disagree with his unbiblical stance are spreading “hate [and] vitriol.”
Many began to respond with longer posts, gently calling out the hypocrisy of the casting decision, and their concern that the influential couple has the power to lead people down a bad ideological path. In an op-ed, fan Lindsay Whitlow wrote: “You are trend-setters… you captured the hearts and imaginations of countless women, and many of them are ready and willing to follow you in any direction,” she said. “Kindness is not kind at all if it’s telling a lie.”
Whitlow went on to beseech the couple to reconsider what their support of the couple signals to the public.
Similarly, Owen Strachan wrote to the couple on Substack, highlighting that Back to the Frontier is going against much of the messaging they worked so hard to portray in Fixer Upper.
“As Christians,” said Strachan, using Riggs and Hanna’s own language, “we cannot play any part… in normalizing sin.”
Many fans will likely take a step back from Magnolia because of the great draw the Gaines’s faith had been to large swaths of their audience.
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