If you pay any attention at all to online conservative discourse, you’ve undoubtedly heard about that one pretty famous guy who has angered and seemingly betrayed his fan base on a key issue.
Shockingly, we’re not talking about the fallout from President Donald Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, as that really deserves its own analysis.
No, we’re talking about something much nearer and dearer to people’s hearts: HGTV.
Or, to be more specific, a former HGTV star couple in the form of Chip and Joanna Gaines.
The Gaines family, perhaps best known for their work on the wildly popular HGTV program “Fixer Upper,” recently sparked widespread outrage over the inclusion of a same-sex couple on their “Back to the Frontier” show.
If Chip and Joanna are best known for “Fixer Upper” (the couple eventually left HGTV and launched their own entertainment network, Magnolia, which now produces their shows) the next thing they’re best known for are being a proud, public-facing Christian family.
Surely you can see where this going.
The incompatibility of an allegedly Christian family platforming sodomy is not exactly what you’d expect to see from such outwardly-facing Christians.
Neither was Chip Gaines’ response.
Should Christians boycott Chip and Joanna Gaines?
The patriarch of the Gaines family didn’t offer anything apologetic or introspective in the wake of this backlash, but instead turned around and called his soon-to-be-former fans a bunch of dopes and bigots.
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
“Talk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn,” Gaines lectured in response to the initial wave of vitriol. “Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never.”
He added: “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.”
Instead of apologizing for that nonsensical attack on the “modern American Christian” (last checked, the Bible unequivocally denounces sodomy and sexual sin, so it seems like these Christians are actually spreading the Word of God), Gaines took to social media not only to double down on his twisted logic, but to show the world that maybe, just maybe, all of that outward-facing Christianity was an act.
Christian pundit and influencer Jon Root took to social media and called out Gaines’ biblical hypocrisy.
Here’s how Gaines responded:
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:15
I really felt the hope, and gentleness and respect here..
— Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) July 13, 2025
“‘But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,’ 1 Peter 3:15,” Gaines retorted to Root. “I really felt the hope, and gentleness and respect here.”
The Bible passage, noted in Root’s bio on X, was basically mangled beyond recognition in a sad attempt to attack a Christian’s valid concerns about “Back to the Frontier.”
Root appropriately called out Gaines for it.
It’s my favorite verse and it’s in my bio. He clearly went to my bio and tried to use it against me…
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) July 13, 2025
Gaines appears to be completely misunderstanding the text, and instead harps on that last part about “gentleness and respect” as the key line.
Here’s the rub: It’s actually incredibly respectful to point out a grave error made by a fellow professing Christian, and nowhere does Root’s initial message lack “gentleness.”
A firm hand teaches best, after all.
The backlash to Gaines’ poor biblical literacy was swift and angry, as it should be.
It’s all incredibly disappointing behavior from a once-beloved couple.
Instead of piling on Chip Gaines more than I have, I proffer 2 Peter 3:16, which is a text he would do well to correctly analyze (emphasis added).
“He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
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