“You know, I call [my belly] Esther. She’s getting bigger…. Esther and I — we’re always at odds. We have a real big fight going on because, you know — I Tweeted that I was in Atlanta doing an episode of Drop Dead Diva. And I was like, ‘Hey, I’m in Atlanta, I’m going to get Chick-Fil-A.’ And Esther and I, we were all happy.
“But I’m getting these Tweets back, that say, ‘You know Chick-Fil-A, they put a lot of money into anti-gay causes, so you shouldn’t eat at Chick-Fil-A.’
“And I’m like, ‘Well, Esther, no more Chick-Fil-A.’ And Esther goes, ‘I ain’t gay!’
“And I’m like, ‘Esther, you gotta support me.’ And Esther’s like, ‘Don’t you believe everything you hear.’
“And she said, ‘Next time we go to Chick-Fil-A and the lady behind the counter says, ‘Would you like waffle fries with that, you dirty lesbian’ — then that will be our last Chick-Fil-A sandwich.”
Wanda Sykes on The Tonight Show. She spoke with Jay Leno about a controversy that erupted last winter over the fast-food restaurant chain Chick-Fil-A. Many in the gay community became concerned over donations made by parts of the billion-dollar corporation and its affiliates to anti-gay, fundamentalist political groups that oppose gay marriage and gay rights. (The Tonight Show / NBC)
The questionable ties between Chick-Fil-A and these groups has been documented several times in the past year by EqualityMatters, Daily Kos and others. The controversy caught fire when GoodAsYou exposed a sponsorship from Chick-Fil-A to the gay marriage foes at FamilyLife and the Pennsylvania Family Institute.
You can read more about Wanda Sykes and what it was like coming out publicly as a lesbian in her 2009 Metro Weekly interview.
And she Tweeted about Chick-Fil-A on April 19, 2011.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!