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Jim Henson company severs Chick-Fil-A ties over anti-LGBT policy

Posted at 12:32 PM, Jul 23, 2012
and last updated 2012-07-23 12:44:07-04

Last Friday, the company behind the beloved icons Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, and shows such as “The Muppets” and “Fraggle Rock,” made a public statement against Chick-Fil-A’s gay marriage stance.

The Jim Henson company made the following Facebook announcement that they have decided to sever ties with Chick-Fil-A due to the fast food chain’s CEO’s gay marriage stance:

The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors.  Lisa Henson, our CEO is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD.  (http://www.glaad.org/)

Previously, the Jim Henson Company provided “Jim Henson Creature Puppets” in Chick-fil-A’s kids’ meals, reportedMichael Stone at the Examiner.

A swelling of public outrage occurred when the fast food restaurant’s CEO made the announcement.

The mayor of Boston even vowed to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company’s president spoke out publicly against gay marriage, reported the Associated Press.

The fact that Chick-fil-A is a company that espouses Christian values is no secret. The fact that its 1,600 fast-food chicken restaurants across the country are closed on Sundays has long been testament to that.

But the comments of company President Dan Cathy about gay marriage to Baptist Press last week ignited a social media wildfire.

“Guilty as charged,” Cathy said when asked about his company’s support of the traditional family unit as opposed to gay marriage.

“We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that,” Cathy is quoted as saying.

In a statement to CNN last Wednesday, the company said it would stick by its principles, but it tried to withdraw from the heated social media debate over them.