NBC presses Chick-fil-A boss on gay rights — he keeps talking chicken sandwiches

THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?

SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).

NBC’s Craig Melvin pressed Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy about LGBTQ rights and the chain’s controversial history during his first broadcast interview.
Cathy repeatedly emphasized hospitality and serving every customer, without directly answering the question about the company’s official position on LGBTQ rights.
Katie Couric called it “A non answer answer,” while a conservative media critic accused NBC of turning the interview into an ambush.

LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).

Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy appeared on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday to discuss the remarkable success of America’s chicken-sandwich empire.

And before long, the conversation wasn’t about chicken anymore.

It was about gay marriage, LGBTQ rights and comments made by his father more than a decade ago.

Co-anchor Craig Melvin brought up the controversy surrounding former CEO Dan Cathy, whose public support for traditional marriage in 2012 triggered boycotts, protests and a nationwide argument over whether customers should patronize a company whose ownership held religious beliefs they opposed.

Fourteen years later, Melvin wanted to know where the company stands.

Andrew Cathy had a different subject in mind. “We’re focused on hospitality, serving great-tasting food and great service,” he responded. Melvin pressed him about people who had stopped eating at Chick-fil-A because of the company’s history.

“Everybody that’s willing to walk in the door, they’re welcome to come eat with us. We would love to give them a great-tasting sandwich and great hospitality,” Cathy said.

Melvin continued questioning the CEO about the controversy and the company’s position on equal rights. Cathy continued emphasizing hospitality rather than offering a direct statement about the broader political and legal questions surrounding LGBTQ rights.

And that exchange promptly became a controversy of its own.

Former “Today” anchor Katie Couric entered the discussion on Instagram, criticizing the CEO for declining to answer the question directly.

“A non answer answer,” Couric wrote.

She pointed to Dan Cathy’s 2012 statement supporting the biblical definition of family and suggested Melvin should have asked Andrew Cathy whether he agreed with his father. Couric wasn’t alone. Some viewers accused the CEO of evading a legitimate question about a controversy that has followed the company for years. Others wondered why a profile of a successful fast-food company needed to revisit the politics of the founder’s family.

NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck accused NBC of deliberately turning the interview toward controversy.

Houck noted that questions about LGBTQ rights occupied more than 90 seconds of a roughly six-minute television segment, even though Melvin had also discussed the company’s business success, religious foundations and charitable activities. Houck called the questioning an “ambush” and argued that Chick-fil-A’s everyday treatment of its customers should have been part of the discussion.

The company does, in fact, have an established employment policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

Chick-fil-A’s past charitable contributions have also been a source of liberal controversy. In 2019, the company changed its philanthropic priorities and stopped donations to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, organizations that had drawn criticism over their positions or practices concerning LGBTQ people.

Its charitable efforts shifted toward education, homelessness and hunger. Yet the company’s Christian identity has remained an important part of its operations.

Chick-fil-A continues closing its restaurants on Sundays, a longstanding practice rooted in the beliefs of founder S. Truett Cathy. Andrew Cathy reaffirmed that commitment during the interview, describing the company’s religious mission as an anchor for the business. And the company still maintains its stated corporate purpose of glorifying God while positively influencing the people who interact with it.

That combination—a business founded on Christian principles, employing people of different backgrounds and serving customers regardless of their beliefs—has long been part of Chick-fil-A’s public identity.

For critics, however, the hospitality answer did not resolve questions about whether its leadership supports LGBTQ equality beyond the company’s employment rules. For supporters, the answer raised a different question: Does a restaurant executive need to declare a political or theological position to establish that everyone is welcome to buy a sandwich?

Meanwhile, Chick-fil-A keeps serving chicken sandwiches six days a week.

And libs keep crying over a non-issue to whip up anger.