In the Fall of 2016, Chip and Joanna Gaines were celebrating the season premiere of their hit HGTV show. At the same time, the couple was on "media blast" because after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last year, a reporter from BuzzFeed had ran an article about the family and the church they attend. They have affiliation with the Antioch Community Church, a non-denominational evangelical church, in Waco, Texas whose pastor, Jimmy Seibert, strictly opposes homosexuality and gay marriage.
As a result of Chip and Joanna choosing a life in the limelight, the privacy they had, had prior is no longer in existence. Their privacy has not only been given away because of their career choice but they have had it taken away because media outlets such as BuzzFeed have targeted their extended family, church congregation, community, and their previous internet interactions.
Prior to publishing the article, the BuzzFeed reporter that had reached out to the couple asking for them to comment on their pastor's comments towards the LGBTQ community and the couple declined to respond. Following the release of the BuzzFeed article, Chip turned to Twitter and share inspirational messages about standing strong and being courageous when "all hell breaks loose."
At the beginning on 2017, Chip posted a blog and responded on behalf of his family, "If there is any hope for all of us to move forward, to heal and to grow – we have got to learn to engage people who are different from us with dignity and with love. Joanna and I have personal convictions. One of them is this: we care about you for the simple fact that you are a person, our neighbor on planet earth. It’s not about what color your skin is, how much money you have in the bank, your political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, nationality or faith."
At the end of his post, Chip comments on living a life with no privacy, "let’s cut each other a little slack. This living out loud thing is not for the faint of heart. Jo and I don’t want to hide, we want to live brave & bold lives and we wish that same thing for you as well. But words can cut deep and having someone misunderstand your intentions can hurt as much as just about anything."
