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Kenney To Chick-Fil-A: “Take A Hike”


Click on letter to enlarge.

You know, over the years, we’ve given Councilman Jim Kenney a lot of guff (and usually because he’s earned it, like that time he wanted to sue the Internet); but today, we stand with Kenney and many others, who’ve all told Chick-Fil-A to go fuck themselves. Above is a copy of the letter Kenney dashed off today to Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy after his recent homophobic comments (to say nothing of the whole pretending-to-be-a-teenage-girl mess). As you can see above, Kenney does not mince words about how poorly Cathy’s type of hate plays here. Is it political posturing during a media pile-on? Well, sure. But we agree with Kenney’s sentiments, applaud him for voicing them, and hey, not for nothing: That has the potential to be one pretty damned hilarious Council resolution.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 at 3:39 pm.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Ali.Dundovich Alexis Jean Dundović
  • SLR85

    Freedom of speech.The media never calls out the name of businesses that support gay rights or the so called gay agenda so that religious organizations can protest against them and stop buying there products. They always get straight to what they consider the negative but what they forget is that some people believe that what Mr. Cathy said to be the positive because he didn’t bend to meet others expectations and he shouldn’t.People have the right to there opinions and if you don’t like it don’t eat there. 

  • SLR85

    Freedom of Speech. Mr. Cathy has the right to his opinion and if you don’t like it don’t eat there. I never read about businesses that support gay rights or the so called gay agenda because many religious groups would probably protest against them, stop buying their products or using there services. While many people think Mr. Cathy’s remarks were negative there are many who believe they were the positive because he didn’t bend to what other people want and kept to his moral and religious beliefs. Mr. Cathy will be truly blessed in heaven.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1185528473 DeeAnn Thebus

    Councilman Jim Kenney is more interested in attacking people practicing their 1st amendment rights than CARING about 2 murdered children, gunned down in their own Philadelphia home??? Thank you, Councilman, for showing us your priorities. Yuck.

  • http://twitter.com/alligatorBAM Ashley

    So, in my experience, you can’t exactly make any kind of effective argument if you repeatedly use the word “there” instead of  ”their.” Just saying…

  • EmmKayPHL

     Your rights as a person in the country shouldn’t be up for debate. Many of the same people who say “freedom of speech” would (hopefully) be outraged if he was talking about a specific race. Good on Kenney and the media for calling out this company’s hatred.

  • http://twitter.com/snakealicious75 Snake Smith

    I’d love to boycott Chick-Fil-A myself, but the waffle fries pull me back in.

  • http://www.facebook.com/erindupuis Erin Dupuis

    Fantastic! Thanks for the support Philadelphia!! MA & PA lead the charge :)

  • philebrity

    I have to wonder: How did you ever find this site?

  • http://twitter.com/rbgame R D Burlingame

     A lot of people thought that Hitler’s final solution was a very positive thing too… hm…

  • amc312

    I’ll put it out there that I find Dan Cathy’s views to be repellant, but he has a right to them, and to say them.  And as far as I know, Chick-Fil-A has never been accused of any discriminatory policies when it comes to hiring or serving homosexuals, or anyone else. 

    I think people should decide whether they truly want to support a business where a bigot like Cathy is an executive (I won’t), but City Council should stay out of it.  Since Chick-Fil-A hasn’t broken any laws that I know of, it strikes me as a pretty egregious example of the government punishing speech (even the speech of an asshole) if Council passes even a symbolic measure against Cathy or the company.

    That being said, how great is it that so many politicians (Kenney, the Boston mayor whose letter all your facebook friends posted, the Chicagoans) use such open support for gay rights as an excuse for their political grandstanding?  Five years ago you wouldn’t have seen that.

  • amc312

     I think Cathy is a bigoted asshole, but it’s not illegal in this country to be a bigoted asshole.  And yes, it’s legal to have racist views in this country as well, to address your counterexample (it’s not legal to discriminate as a business on that basis, but I don’t believe Chick Fil-A has been accused of doing so).  People can decide not to support that business, but it crosses a line when a government official threatens to punish a company for the (admittedly bigoted) speech of one of its executives.  It’s absolutely a free speech issue.  I agree with Kenney that Cathy is an asshole, but I think Kenney has crossed a line here. 

  • EmmKayPHL

    Saying “I condemn you” in a council resolution is hardly a punishment. No one in Philly is taking away their ability to push waffle fries.

  • won226

    I saw this on the reddit.com yesterday and thought to share it on facebook… BUT people photoshop fake twitter/facebook convo’s all the time on there so I fought the urge.  It’s way too convenient that someone could suspect a facebook account is fake, then just so happen to search the correct stock photo data base (if those exist?) to find the exact picture that was used on the fake account.

    Also why would a pr employee trying to pose as a hip young chick include a bible reference in their response? I read that as a poor creative decision by whoever made this fake facebook screen capture…

  • amc312

     I disagree.  A council condemnation, even if it’s largely symbolic, is still an act of government punishing speech (as a liberal, I’d be outraged if my business received a symbolic condemnation from the Council of a very conservative city I did business in as a result of my support for gay marriage).  To Kenney’s credit though, he hasn’t gone as far as officials in Boston and Chicago who have threatened to not issue business licenses to the chain.

  • EmmKayPHL

    I agree that they should be able to say what they want and should be able to get a business license. But I liken anti-gay groups/companies to the KKK.  If city council issued the KKK a permit for a parade and then issued a condemnation of their beliefs, I would support that. Just as I support this. 

  • amc312

     I dunno.  I’m no constitutional lawyer, but I think a Council condemnation, even a symbolic toothless one, is still an instrument of government, and it would be just as wrong for them to do so over a KKK event as long as no laws were broken.  I think even the most hateful, vile speech is protected, even from nonbinding legislation. 

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    Wow another which hunt.  The man (Cathy) is not only entitled to his opinion it is protected under the 1st ammendment.  Who and the HELL does this “councilman” think he is dragging the city into this mess.  Clearly pandering to the gay vote if you ask me.  Our dear city has far bigger fish to fry.  There is no crime here, no discrimination, and more importantly no condemnation of same sex marriage.  All this guy said is that he supports traditional marriage.  Is that such a big deal…really?  Don’t most gays support traditional marrige as well as same sex marriages?  To each his own right?…freedom of choice right?…freedom to express an alternative opinion without the risk of persecusion RIGHT????  These are some basic rights that have made our country great.  Keep up these PC bullshit overreactions and we are all in for a world of hurt, and another step closer to totalitarianism.  Wake the hell up!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    WOW…just wow.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    Thank God someone gets it!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    YES!  It really is just that simple.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    I guess they are not entitled to express thier opinion on here?  What are you attempting to say you smug bastard?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    Once again EmmKay sating that you support traditional marriage is a far cry from cross burnings and lynchings is it not?  What are the limits to your “support”?  Let me guess, anything that makes you feel good and appear to be a champion of the underdog or downtrodden.  Read the freaking Constitution!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    oops soory for the typo, Ashley is probably going to be all over that one!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    IT IS NOT THE GOVERNMENTS PLACE TO SAY ANYTHING HERE.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/TDCIRDIBX2W6QLN2M22W4NBSMY Paul Whitehead

    All this hooplah over a tasty chicken sandwich.