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Right-wing media figures lose it over Chip and Joanna Gaines putting a gay couple on TV

Special Programs LGBTQ

Written by Payton Armstrong

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Right-wing and Christian nationalist media figures are lashing out at Magnolia Network owners and former HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines for casting a same-sex couple in a new TV show, declaring that “I would never let my kids watch this filth,” claiming that the show “promotes an unbiblical view of human sexuality, marriage, and family,” and demanding that the Gaineses “repent and make this right.”

  • Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new show includes a same-sex couple with children

    • TV personalities Chip and Joanna Gaines cast a same-sex couple in their new show, which premiered on HBO and Magnolia Network last week. The show, Back to the Frontier, features three families role-playing as 1800s homesteaders, including a same-sex couple with twin sons. After backlash from conservative Christian figures, Chip Gaines defended the casting, encouraging people to ask questions and “maybe even learn.” 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.” [NBC News, 7/15/25; Los Angeles Times, 7/15/25; Deadline, 7/15/25]
    • The Gaineses (no relation to right-wing commentator Riley Gaines) were also targeted by right-wing media figures in 2023 for their business relationship with Target, which carried trans-inclusive merchandise and rainbow-colored children’s clothing in its Pride collection. In one instance, right-wing influencer Benny Johnson shared a video of himself in a Target store, where he complained that the Gaineses “have not disavowed Target's Satanic child grooming despite the backlash.” [Twitter/X, 7/15/25, 7/16/25; Media Matters, 5/30/23; Fox News, Fox News at Night, 5/24/23; Newsweek, 5/27/23]

  • Right-wing media figures lashed out over the new show, claiming it “promotes an unbiblical view of human sexuality, marriage, and family”

    • Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro said the “morality of what” Chip Gaines said in his reply “is insipid” and suggested that he is “violating his own faith standards by promulgating a set of values that is un-Christian.” He also complained that Gaines was critical of those “objecting to the normalization of what Christians or Jews or anyone else considers to be sinful,” saying their objections are “not mean or intolerant. That is just saying there is a standard and the standard should be something that, if you purport to be an upholder of that standard, you should abide by.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 7/16/25]
    • Right-wing podcast host Charlie Kirk replied to Chip Gaines: “You messed up and you know it. Repent and make this right.” He continued: “You are quickly losing your credibility and audience. Do not contribute to the assault on marriage.” [Twitter/X, 7/15/25]
    • BlazeTV’s Allie Beth Stuckey complained that the Gaineses have “exchanged the God of Scripture for the god of self, because you think that you are better and wiser than God is.” Media Matters previously reported that Stuckey “weaponizes her Christian faith to attack non-traditional gender roles, often targeting and spreading misinformation about LGBTQ people and those that do not adhere to her prescribed fundamentalist lifestyle.” [Twitter/X, 7/14/25; Media Matters, 7/14/22]
    • Newsmax guest and Daily Caller columnist Mary Rooke criticized the show, saying she can’t watch it with her kids, and said: “It's more than just putting a same-sex couple on there. It's the fact that he came out and lambasted Christians for being upset over it and claimed that they weren't loving.” She added: “That's really what the hard part is. God calls us to love, but he also defines that love. And so, I think for him to come out there and try and use those words like a serpent against God's flock is pretty disgusting.” [Newsmax, The Chris Salcedo Show, 7/14/25]
    • American Family Radio host Jenna Ellis said that the new show demonstrates “why Trump’s IVF EO is so dangerous,” adding, “This homosexual group + purchased children are not a family.” She also said: “Christians have to stand firm on the definitions of marriage and family.” [Twitter/X, 7/14/25]
    • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh replied to Chip Gaines: “Maybe you should endeavor to understand the basic moral teachings of your own alleged religion before you give lectures to other people about their lack of understanding.” [Twitter/X, 7/13/25]
    • Turning Point USA contributor and right-wing Christian influencer Jon Root declared that the Gaineses’ “defense of unbiblical lifestyles and slandering Christians” should “cause you to not support them in any way.” [Twitter/X, 7/14/25; Turning Point USA, accessed 7/16/25; JonRootLive.com, accessed 7/17/25]
    • Christian nationalist podcast host Sean Feucht replied to a post in which Chip Gaines promoted the show: “I would never let my kids watch this filth.” Feucht has “proudly” identified as a Christian nationalist, while also saying that he wants “Christians to be the only ones” in government so that God can “be in control of everything.” [Twitter/X, 7/12/25; Media Matters, 9/14/23; Right Wing Watch, 4/21/23]
    • Pro-Trump evangelical leader and frequent right-wing media guest Franklin Graham, who is a member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, lamented that the Gaineses “are featuring a gay couple in their new series.” He added: “While we are to love people, we should love them enough to tell them the truth of God’s Word. … His design for marriage is between one man and one woman. Promoting something that God defines as sin is in itself sin.” [Twitter/X, 7/12/25; Media Matters, 6/12/25]
    • Ed Vitagliano, vice president of anti-LGBTQ group American Family Association, lamented that the show “promotes an unbiblical view of human sexuality, marriage, and family –– a view no Christian should embrace.” [Twitter/X, 7/11/25; Media Matters, accessed 7/16/25]