Guido Barilla has some explaining to do. The chairman of the $5.25 billion worldwide Italian food monolith says he would never show a gay family in his advertising — and if gay people don’t like it the can go eat someone else’s pasta.
In an interview yesterday with an Italian radio talk show, Barilla made clear he considers the “traditional family” and women “sacral.”
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“I would never do a commercial with a homosexual family,” Barilla said, according to a Google translation. “We will not be advertising with homosexuals, because we like the traditional family. If the gays do not agree, they can always eat pasta from another manufacturer. Everyone is free to do whatever they want provided it does not annoy others.”
“We have a slightly different culture,” Barilla said, via a Huffington Post translation of the interview. “For us, the ‘sacral family’ remains one of the company’s core values. Our family is a traditional family. If gays like our pasta and our advertisings, they will eat our pasta; if they don’t like that, they will eat someone else’s pasta. You can’t always please everyone not to displease anyone.
“The women are crucial in this,” Barilla added.
“I respect same-sex marriage because that concerns people who want to contract marriage, but I absolutely don’t respect adoptions in gay families, because that concerns a person who is not the people who decide,” Barilla also said.
Of course, after a great deal of criticism and calls for a boycott, Barilla tried to apologize.
“With reference to statements made yesterday,” a Buzzfeed translation notes, “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.”
Apparently, in Italy, gay people don’t have families and women are never lesbian.
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Images via Barilla on Facebook