Barilla Pasta Anti-Gay Comments Spur Boycott, Company Apologizes....Kinda

Barilla Pasta Anti-Gay Comments Spur Boycott, Company Apologizes....Kinda

Barilla Pasta made a highly anti-gay announcement, garnering harsh criticism.

Barilla Pasta will never feature a gay couple in one of their sexy commercials, they said- and if gay people don't like it they "can always go eat someone else's pasta."

A whole bunch of angry gay people decided to do just that-calling for a ban on Barilla Pasta.

The pasta company's chairman, Guido Barilla (yes, that's really his name), made the following anti-gay announcement on Wednesday.

    "Non faremo pubblicità con omosessuali, perché a noi piace la famiglia tradizionale. Se i gay non sono d'accordo, possono sempre mangiare la pasta di un'altra marca. Tutti sono liberi di fare ciò che vogliono purché non infastidiscano gli altri".

    "We won't include gays in our ads, because we like the traditional family. If gays don't like it, they can always eat another brand of pasta. Everyone is free to do what they want, provided it doesn't bother anyone else."

Barilla apparently sees its commercials as a way to promote traditional family values as well as carbohydrate consumption. They're not just spaghetti, apparently-they're also a weapon against gay people...or, um, promoting the central role of women. Yes. That. And everyone knows women are never involved in gay couples, right?

Mr. Barilla tried to backtrack, saying:

    "With reference to statements made yesterday, I apologize if my words have generated controversy or misunderstanding, or if they have hurt the sensibilities of some people. In the interview I simply wanted to highlight the central role of the woman in the family."

This is a little head-scratching, because the role of women in American Barilla commercials basically is to be scantily clad and seduce attractive men with their pasta. Ahem:

Yes, strong traditional family values indeed.

Gay rights activists are boycotting. "This is another example of Italian homophobia," an Italian gay rights activist told press. "I'm joining the boycott of Barilla and I hope other parliamentarians do the same."

Barilla made an official apology after the backtracking non-apology, but it may be too late:

While we cannot undo words that have been said, we can apologize. To all of those that we have hurt or offended, we are deeply sorry.

— Barilla US (@BarillaUS) September 26, 2013

What do you think? Were the Barilla comments homophobic? Sound off below!