Going viral certainly has its upsides.
Jacob and Anthony’s modern day prom bromance had the internet feeling all the feels. Which meant Ellen wasn’t far behind with an oversized check (two, actually).
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And with cash in hand, Janthony was ready to have the best prom ever, and Teen Vogue made sure it’d be one to really remember.
They picked out some sharp attire:
Took lots of photos, of course:
Instagramed some food porn:
And shared a bromantic dance. Watch those hands:
The only hiccup came in the form of (what else?) a minor cake controversy.
Anthony’s Aunt went to the Las Vegas Walmart to get a cake to surprise the boys. She wanted it to say “You’re gay, he’s straight, you’re going to prom, you couldn’t have had a better date,” but the store refused to write the word gay in icing.
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She finally settled on “You matter, prom kings,” which is much less fun than the original.
A local news station reached out to Walmart to find out what happened. Fox5Vegas reports:
“…a spokesperson said that after investigating the incident, it was discovered that proper management wasn’t contacted. They said nowhere in their store’s policy does it say the word ‘gay’ can’t be written on a cake.”
Why’s it always got to be a cake?
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Robert Hillyer
He isn’t gay enough if he lets her buy cake at Walmart. Even if they WOULD write it out.
Steven
Obviously this was the “company policy” of the person who took the cake order. What is it about bakeries and sexual orientation?
Arcamenel
Does a straight guy being secure enough in his masculinity to ask his gay friend to prom really require this much coverage? It shouldn’t be a big deal but everyone is really making it into one. It’s not like the gay kid wouldn’t have rather gone with an actual boyfriend or a guy he could actually fancy.
d3clark
It looks like the “exquisite” script on the cake was done by a Walmart employee who works in Automotive.
Robert Rupp
Leave it to WALMART to
Ruin a wonderful moment. You think this person felt they were empowered to
Make this decision. Yes! Was this person fired. No! Walmart a ownership is extremely right wing. Why I refuse to shop there. And you what they don’t care
David Green
I was quickly scrolling by and for a moment I thought I was looking at Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka.
Vick Salmeron
Wait wait wait they went to Walmart for a cake ? Well that was a mistake
Brian Nesbitt
Yeah. I bet it was the straight guy’s aunt. That aside, with all the cake controversy you’d think that all the gays do is sit around and eat cake. I was at a gogo bar the other night I I can say without a doubt that none of those boys had been within 100 yards of a carb in months.
Leonard Woodrow
There is no excuse for such crass behaviour nowadays. The employee who was ignorant enough to refuse the order should be sacked immediately. He/she should not be allowed to work in a public service of any kind.
lykeitiz
Oh well, if the flak gets too heavy, I’m sure some compassionate Christians will start a GoFundMe for that struggling little WalMart bakery.
And @d3clark: ROFL! For sure……
Mackenzie Gibson
Lol Brian Brian Nesbitt
musctop
Lets just boycott cake. I haven’t had cake in 6 years.
musctop
@Brian Nesbitt: Hahaha exactly. Well for a special occasion I guess you have to have a cake. A waitress once said to me after dinner “Would you like to see a dessert menu, or would you rather keep your abs?” Loved that.
Glücklich
God…I guess it’s cute but those kids look about twelve. They’re old enough for prom?
Cam
Oh Please, Corporate Wal-Mart, is same corporation trying to run ads now talking about how they are giving their employees raises because of negative publicity and backlash. They spent years fighting against a minimum wage increase but when the public turned on them, they are pretending they are all for it.
Same here, if management had been contacted they would have said the same thing. Corporate headquarters is singing a different tune because the media reached out.
tdh1980
All of this talk about cake, and no one has yet made an obvious off-color joke. I’m disappointed.
[email protected]
As a fat old queen, I’m so happy to see this just boil down into an argument about cake. I’d have cut off a finger to go to any prom with my boyfriend back in the 80’s. Kudos to these kids. We’ve come a long way in not a long amount of time. We still have some travelling to do, but to see this just makes me feel humanity isn’t doomed to the dustbin of history. Just yet.
Ogre Magi
It figures some damn Christian at Walmart would try to ruin things
sanfranca1
Really, really cool.
polarisfashion
@musctop: I don’t eat much cake either, I even cut down on soda. Guess I just don’t care much for sugar.
Captain Obvious
@Arcamenel: But we’re supposed to worship straight guys who pay attention to us.
Kangol
Good for them, but boo to Walmart’s homophobic rejection of putting “gay” on the cake. Homophobia is disgusting!
barkomatic
@Captain Obvious: Thats kind of an arrogant thing to say.
Avery Alvarez
Besides the cake scandal part, it’s a really cute, inspiring, feel good story.
I was glad to have heard about it.
Giancarlo85
Walmart… typical…
Anyways, it’s a cute story. A change from all the negativity going on lately in the press…
NoCagada
@Arcamenel: Oh, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Did somebody Santorum on your Versace sheets???
Bradley Engeldinger
Wtf is it always cake
James Kirby
This is truly amazing and inspiring I wish the rest of the world could learn something from this. It’s OK to be gay and it’s OK to be straight, we all need to live and coexist . We all want to be loved and cared about without judgement that’s all we could ever ask for from life.
jwtraveler
Perhaps we need to get Marie Antoinette to weigh in on the cake controversy.
Marcos Villareal
Why is it a sign of progress for a “straight” man to ditch his girlfriend and take a gay man to prom?
Blazipitous
Sorry, but I find NOTHING “cute” or “inspiring” about this. It portrays gay guys as some weak faggots who always need a straight white guy to come to the rescue. It’s patronizing and pathetic! Now we must be thankful and kiss the ground he walks upon because he’s white and straight and could have easily taken any one of the girls but lowered himself to give this grinny pathetic little twat a patronizing dance at the prom because all he cares about is playing hero. Let this go. Even the [average WHITE] guy who won Mr Gay World didn’t get this much attention. These articles that worship straight white guys make me mad. I’m super tired of ’em!
billywonka
Great story – glad they had a good time.
This will help so many others in their age group – they have no idea just how much good they have done.
Hope the media keeps posting more stories about these brave young leaders of tomorrow.
VampDC
I love this story so much. Gay men are nothing without their straight allies – gotta give them props where credit is do. Well done!
billywonka
“#comment-908949”>Blazipitous: And yet you keep reading these stories and commenting. Times have changed – either get with it or go somewhere else.
enlightenone
@Arcamenel: “…Does a straight guy being secure enough in his masculinity to ask his gay friend to prom really require this much coverage?”
Yes, because very few are and they haven’t! Anthony doesn’t have one and I’m sure he would have… Read, listen, and get the big picture!
enlightenone
@Vick Salmeron: “Wait wait wait they went to Walmart for a cake ? Well that was a mistake”
The more harmful mistake was paying for a cake that did not say what the customer wanted it to say. As written, a different sentiment/message and may not be accurate. Also, the words required a punctuation mark!
Gordon S. Hale
Be nice.
enlightenone
@Marcos Villareal: “Why is it a sign of progress for a “straight” man to ditch his girlfriend and take a gay man to prom?”
Two different issues, but I missed this detail?
enlightenone
@Blazipitous: Therapy will help!
enlightenone
@VampDC: “Gay men are nothing without their straight allies.”
Nothing?????? Really now?
F. Jay Ver
Gays and cake don’t mix. Too many carbs.
Kevin Uhrin
why would anybody go to a walmart in the first place they are DECUSTING
captainburrito
@Arcamenel: Perhaps i’m old but back then it was an incredibly big deal for a straight guy to stand up for a gay guy, never mind go to prom with him. Heck, i’m sure i’d have had very few friends if i came out in high school. I’d have gotten female dates but the guys would have fled.
ShowMeGuy
@Steven: I promise you there is no “anti gay” company policy…..I work it every day.
ShowMeGuy
@Robert Rupp: WALMART didn’t ruin anything. The company has a LGBT organization and is a corporate sponsor of gay pride activities in communities where LGBT associates request the company to do so.
Whoever in the bakery of that one store who answered the phone….has an issue with the Gays…..and if they get found out, they will lose their job.
ShowMeGuy
@Giancarlo85: Actually very NOT typical for Walmart. The Walmart near my house has done anything and everything short of drawing huge penises and assholes on a cake for a Gay Pride party.
Walmart doesn’t have issues with “gay”.
Giancarlo85
@ShowMeGuy: Incorrect. Walmart is far from as gay friendly as you claim. They are on the same wave length as Lowe’s. Stop trying to paint them as a gay friendly company. Man, that company is a pile of shit anyways… they aren’t even people friendly. They treat their own employees as slaves.
glitterbearly
@Giancarlo85: I can’t speak to corporate policy, but local stores vary greatly. North and parts of South Alabama, Walmarts are some of the most queer-friendly places to work, including for queer people of color in North Alabama. And by queer-friendly I mean wear your pride jewelry, talk about your other, no closet required. I’m sure there are individual jerks at every store, but of the probably two dozen queer people I’ve met who worked there, the only one who complained about how management treated him was the one who got stuck hauling carts from the barely lit parking lot late at night…and any guy in the store unlucky enough to pull that shift with that manager got stuck doing that.
tricky ricky
@jwtraveler: she didn’t say cake she said brioche.
Giancarlo85
@glitterbearly: I don’t know about individual stores, but walmarts whole wage and corporate structure is disgusting. They pay their employees next to think. Half of their employees also need food stamps to survive. There is no shame in food stamps, but this says a lot about the low wages of WalMart. They also put many other businesses out of business or under serious stress.
Compare them to Costco (which by the way is far more gay friendly). Costco gives their employees living wages and full health insurance.
Blazipitous
I guess I’m one of the very few gay/bi men who’ve never been bullied. Maybe being one of the best achievers and most popular kids in high school has its perks!
scotshot
EDITOR: ARE YOU AWARE THIS COMMENT THREAD IS NOT WHERE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE?
Giancarlo85
@scotshot: Was a technical problem.
John Dillon
Really @walmart. Your response to the local news is a joke! They didn’t contact the correct management? Hmmm so if you want a cake with the word gay on it you need to order it from a manager?
Jerry Wierzbicki
Good thing they didn’t have to take them to Kodak to get them developed….. ð???