Gay Loving Muppets Drop Chick-Fil-A Account

The Muppets are ending their relationship with fast food restaurant chain Chick-Fil-A in a show of support for gay marriage, the creators of the puppet troupe said on Monday. "The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors," the company said in a statement posted on their official Facebook page. The Henson company, named after the creator of lovable characters like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, supplied their Creature Shop Muppet toys to Chick-Fil-A for children's meal packages but decided to sever ties after recent statements by the fast-food chain's Chief Executive Dan Cathy.

Cathy told the Baptist Press in a recent interview the company supported the "traditional family," and "the biblical definition of the family unit." The Henson company, whose Muppet characters are hugely popular, said its Chief Executive Lisa Henson is a "strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD," the company said in their statement. Representatives for Chick-Fil-A were not immediately available for comment on Monday, but the company posted on their Facebook page last week that their restaurants "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect - regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender." They added that they wanted to "leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena."






In A Related Story

St. Paul Church Loses Congregation, Church After Pastor Supports Gay Marriage

A St. Paul congregation is about to lose its church. When the pastor of Grace Community UCC (United Church of Christ) came out in support of gay marriage, more than two-thirds of his flock fled. And so did their financial support. Grace Community formed 22 years ago; for the last eleven, a 114-year-old building at 986 Forest has been its home. It's one of the only predominantly African-American UCC churches in Minnesota. Inside, a book of photos on the church piano shows the many faces of those who've worshipped here. Come August though, the choir robes will be packed away and the pews will be empty. The last service here is scheduled for Sunday July 29th. "People just literally stopped coming to church," says Pastor Oliver White. The exodus began in 2005 after Rev. White was among the 80 percent of UCC delegates to vote in favor of a national church resolution supporting gay marriage. "I saw no reason that I would vote against something for them, that's available to me," said White, who's married with children. "It's about trying to establish justice, freedom, and equality for all people." Yet a majority of the church felt Rev. White's decision ran afoul of Biblical teachings. He says, "As I was telling them (about his vote), I got a lot of 'amens' but within weeks the congregation slowly evaporated.And when I went to check on the reason why so many people had stopped coming to church--people who had never missed a Sunday--I was told one by one that they cannot accept going to a church that doesn't preach the Bible." "It breaks my heart," says Fances Woodlow.

She's one one of the few who stayed. "We were supposed to love each other. That was one of the rules that Jesus said we must keep. We must love God. And the second commandment says to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. What is wrong with loving your neighbor, no matter what? As the congregation dwindled, so did its financial support. And now, the church can't afford to pay off a huge loan it took out to sustain itself. Rev. White says he's shocked by some of the emails he's received. "They such things as 'we warned you' and 'if you had preached God's word you wouldn't have lost your church' or 'you deserve what's happened to you'." Two months ago Rev. White thought his prayers had been answered. He got a call from a potential benefactor who claimed he was willing to pay off all the church's bills and eradicate its debts. But there was one condition: Pastor White would have to change his mind and renounce gay marriage. He refused. At the same time, though, others have stepped up, and White is now receiving donations from churches and strangers around the nation who support his stance. "We have to win his battle," he said. Because, according to Woodlow, no matter where Grace Community''s congregation ends up settling next, "any one who comes through our door is welcome at our church, period." No matter their color, their culture, or their sexual orientation. "We are all God's children," White says.

'Dark Knight Rises' Reportedly Earns $160 Million

"The Dark Knight Rises" was on track to earn $160 million, which would be a record for 2-D films, over the weekend following a mass shooting at a Colorado screening of the Batman film. Citing box office insiders, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and other media outlets reported Sunday that the latest Batman sequel earned $160 to $162 million. That amount would best the $158.4 million debut of "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and give "Dark Knight Rises" the third-highest domestic weekend opening ever after the 3-D films "The Avengers" with $207.4 million and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" with $169.2 million. The Hollywood Reporter also cited box office sources who said "Dark Knight Rises" earned $70 million from nine of the 17 countries where it debuted over the weekend, including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea and Spain. Tickets for 3-D films cost a few more dollars than 2-D screenings, netting extra cash at the box office. Movies released in 3-D typically earn under half of their income in 3-D screenings, sometimes as little as a third.

Sony, Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Lionsgate joined "Dark Knight Rises" distributor Warner Bros in publicly withholding their usual revenue reports out of respect for the victims and their families. Box-office tracking service Rentrak also did not report figures following the Aurora, Colo., shootings that killed 12 and injured 58 at a midnight screening of the new Batman sequel on Friday. "This tragedy did not seem to impact the box office in a major way," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for Hollywood.com who specializes in box office. "For this film to still be in the rarified air of the top-three openings of all time is phenomenal, given the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the release of this film." Dergarabedian noted that the box-office ranking of director Christopher Nolan's final installment of his Batman trilogy would not be official until Warner Bros. and other studios release their final weekend box-office tallies Monday.

Dreams from My Real Father: The Hand of Frank Marshall Davis

Biden Speaks To Empty House At NAACP

Apparently the crowd over at the NAACP wasn't all that thrilled with the president taking them for granted and sending in VP Joe Biden as a sub. Basically, the message was 'you know and I know you aren't going to vote for the white man, so just take what I give you and send money.'

The above picture was taken just before Biden was set to speak by CBS News’ Rodney Hawkins who says the NAACP is blaming the lack of attendance on the rain. Anyone buying that excuse? The organization is blaming it on rain...but I doubt it. Not with this many empty seats. Don't misunderstand me. Barack Obama is still going to get a large majority of the black vote for obvious reasons, but let's just say I think Mitt Romney planted a few seeds with yesterday's speech.