Memories Pizza Framed as Refusing Service to Gay Customers
Amid the Indiana RFRA fight, ABC57 headlined that a Walkerton pizzeria was the first local business to publicly deny same-sex service, and national outlets said it would deny service to LGBT people.
The overstated framing cast Indiana's Republican-backed RFRA as licensing broad anti-gay discrimination.
What was reported
Amid the Indiana RFRA fight, ABC57 headlined that a Walkerton pizzeria was the first local business to publicly deny same-sex service, and national outlets said it would deny service to LGBT people.
What actually happened
A reporter walked into the shop and asked the owners a hypothetical; they said they would serve gay customers but would not cater a same-sex wedding, and had never been asked to. ABC57 changed its headline to say the business wouldn't cater a gay wedding, and Mother Jones' headline now says the same. CJR said many stories misconstrued the owners' stance as refusing service to all LGBT customers. The family closed temporarily after threats.
The proof
ABC57's own article quoted the owners saying they would serve gay customers, and the station amended its headline.
The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:
Memories Pizza Framed as Refusing Service to Gay Customers — Retracted. ABC57's own article quoted the owners saying they would serve gay customers, and the station amended its headline. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/memories-pizza-deny-service-headlines/
Original reporting
- ABC57 (URL preserves original 'first business to publicly deny same-sex service' headline)https://abc57.com/news/rfra-first-business-to-publicly-deny-same-sex-service
- Mother Jones: Indiana pizzeria story (headline later revised)https://fullsite.motherjones.com/?p=272756
Corrections, findings & records
- CJR: The front lines of the Indiana RFRA coveragehttps://www.cjr.org/hit_or_miss/the_front_lines_of_the.php
- Washington Examiner: Pizzeria under fire after false accusations of denying servicehttps://www.washingtonexaminer.com/?p=1687867
Archived copies
Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.
- Archived copy: ABC57 (URL preserves original 'first business to publicly deny same-sex service' headline)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://abc57.com/news/rfra-first-business-to-publicly-deny-same-sex-service
- Archived copy: Mother Jones: Indiana pizzeria story (headline later revised)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://fullsite.motherjones.com/?p=272756