Commentary

Grace Slick to Chick-fil-A: 'Thanks for the pro-LGBTQ donation'

February 24, 2017 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

The potential dangers restaurateurs face by mixing their personal beliefs in connection with their businesses was made abundantly clear this week when Jefferson Starship lead singer, Grace Slick, quite literally pulled a quick one on Chick-fil-A that may soon go down in advertising faux pas history. And the whole situation was unveiled in an op-ed piece on Forbes.com from Slick this week.

Chick-fil-A — a chain nicknamed "Jesus Chicken" due to its founder's well-publicized religious beliefs and opposition to anything outside of one-man, one-woman relationships — recently obtained rights to use the very pro-gay-rights musical group's 1980s song, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," in a 30-second TV ad that ran during the Grammy awards on Feb. 12.

In her Forbes article, "Why I Decided To License Starship's Music To Chick-fil-A," Slick said she ultimately decided to grant the rights as a way of actually using Chick-fil-A's money to support those organizations who work to fight against the rights and interests of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and queer individuals.

"Chick-fil-A pisses me off," Slick wrote in the piece. "The Georgia-based company has a well-documented history of funding organizations, through their philanthropic foundation WinShape, that are against gay marriage."

The organization Slick referred to is one that Chick-fil-A founder, Truett Cathy, created that has been called into question for its donations of funds to organizations that fight against LGBTQ people.

"My first thought when Check'-fil-A came to me was, 'F-- no!'," Slick wrote. "But then I decided, 'F- yes.' … I am donating every dime that I make from that ad to Lambda Legal, the largest national legal organization working to advance the civil rights of LGBTQ people, and everyone living with HIV.

"Admittedly it's not the millions that WinShape has given to organizations that define marriage as heterosexual. But instead of them replacing my song with someone else's and losing this opportunity to strike back at anti-LGBTQ forces, I decided to spend the cash in direct opposition to 'Check'-fil-A's causes — and to make a public example of them, too. We're going to take some of their money, and pay it back."

And in the tradition of Slick and Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship's early days of public advocacy, she even put out the call for more of the same from her fellow musicians, sounding a thinly veiled alarm to marketing departments everywhere on how they approach promotional music for their brands.

Chick-fil-A did not respond to QSRWeb's request for comment

Photo: iStock

About S.A. Whitehead

Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.