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joanna gaines
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Chip And Joanna Gaines Criticized By Fans For Renovating "Luxury" And "Expensive" Homes In New 'Fixer Upper' Series
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Stream It Or Skip It: 'Fixer Upper: The Hotel' on Max, The Latest Chip And Joanna Gaines Show Where They Renovate a Historic Hotel
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Stream It Or Skip It: 'Happy To Be Home With The Benkos' on Discovery+ and HBO Max, A Maximalist Home Design Show With A Southern Flair
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Drew Barrymore Admits to Sending Joanna Gaines Videos of Her “Screaming and Crying” While Renovating Her House on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’
Chip and Joanna Gaines are hitting back against claims that they are racist or homophobic. In a cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, the former Fixer Upper stars addressed criticism for the lack of same-sex couples and general diversity on their show, telling THR the accusations are “so far” from the truth of who they are.
While they haven’t spoken out before now, Joanna said she’s often wanted to share her thoughts. “Sometimes I’m like, ‘Can I just make a statement?'” she said while “tearing up,” according to THR. “The accusations that get thrown at you, like you’re a racist or you don’t like people in the LGBTQ community, that’s the stuff that really eats my lunch — because it’s so far from who we really are,” she added. “That’s the stuff that keeps me up.”
The popular HGTV couple — who is now launching the Magnolia Network — has come under fire in the past for featuring an anti-LGBTQ pastor on their show, which they never publicly commented on. And recently, The Dallas Morning News reported that Chip’s sister received a $1,000 donation from Chip and Joanna toward her campaign for the Fort Worth school board months before she denounced critical race theory.
“As an American white male, it’s hard to be perfectly diverse,” Chip told THR. “In our own company, we’ve got nearly 700 employees, and one of our biggest passions is making this group represent all people.”
Joanna, whose mother is from South Korea and emigrated to the United States in the ’70s, said she is rarely asked about her experience growing up in a mixed-race family, but has been more vocal in the past year, especially following an alarming wave of violence against the AAPI community.
“My mom is so tough, but with one look or comment, I would just see her shut down,” Joanna said. “That’s why she didn’t know how to help me when I would come home and say, ‘So-and-so called me this.’ It was also happening to her. Growing up as half-Asian, half-Caucasian, I get what that feels like to not be accepted and to not be loved. That’s the last thing I want anyone to ever feel.”
