Chip Gaines appears to have defended his new series, โBack to the Frontier,โ for including a same-sex couple after the casting sparked backlash on social media.
The show features families who quit using technology while trying to live like 19th century pioneers. โBack to the Frontierโ includes married couple, Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, along with their twin 10-year-old sons.
Franklin Graham, the son of evangelical pastor Billy Graham, put the spotlight on the show when he spoke out against the inclusion of the couple.
โI hope this isnโt true, but I read today that Chip and Joanna Gaines are featuring a gay couple in their new series,โ he wrote July 12 on X.
โIf It is true, it is very disappointing. While we are to love people, we should love them enough to tell them the truth of Godโs Word. His Word is absolute truth. God loves us, and His design for marriage is between one man and one woman. Promoting something that God defines as sin is in itself sin,” Graham continued.
Chip Gaines did not directly respond to Grahamโs post nor did he mention his name or the name of his show when he appeared to discuss the matter in his own X post on July 13.
โTalk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn,โ he wrote. โToo much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never Itโs a sad sunday when โnon believersโ have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian.โ
โBack to the Frontierโ premiered July 10 on the Magnolia Network and HBO Max. Gaines did not respond to TODAY.comโs request for comment on the matter.
He was more direct about addressing the backlash when interacting with users on X.
Gaines replied to one user who said he “canโt” watch the show, and he had an exchange with one person who asked why he was “promoting homosexuality,” which Gaines responded to with a Bible verse.
โItโs my favorite verse and itโs in my bio. He clearly went to my bio and tried to use it against meโฆโ the same user later wrote.
โHa.. I didnโt try to use it against you, I did use it against you.. itโs pretty weird to have a life verse that has specific messaging and instruction that you donโt even come close to applying. But it does seem like you love the attention so enjoy,โ Gaines responded.
On Instagram, Hanna and Riggs thanked the Gaineses for including them in “Back to the Frontier.”
“We are extremely honored to be one of the three modern day families going #BacktotheFrontier because visibility matters and so important,” they said.
Before the backlash over the casting of “Back to the Frontier,” the Gaineses have been accused of not supporting members of the LGBTQ+ community.
โThe accusations that get thrown at you, like youโre a racist or you donโt like people in the LGBTQ community, thatโs the stuff that really eats my lunch โ because itโs so far from who we really are. Thatโs the stuff that keeps me up,โ Joanna Gaines told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.
