Gay preacher who accused Whole Foods of icing homophobic slur onto cake apologises and says they 'did nothing wrong'

Jordan Brown admitted he had pursued a false story about his chocolate cake

Pastor Brown, 31, posted a video on YouTube naming the employee who had served him the cake (Getty)

An openly gay member of the clergy has apologized to Whole Foods for accusing its staff of writing a homophobic slur in the icing on top of his chocolate cake.

Jordan Brown dropped his lawsuit against the food giant and said in a statement: “The company did nothing wrong. I was wrong to pursue this matter and use the media to perpetuate this story.”

Mr Brown also said sorry for “diverting attention from real issues” facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and apologised to his Church of Open Doors in Austin, where he is reverend, as reported by The New York Times.

Wholefoods strongly denied the claims from the 31-year-old from Texas, where the store is based.

Mr Brown claimed that he had asked for the words “Love Wins” to be written atop his chocolate cake, and only noticed a discriminatory slur had been added as he was driving away after purchasing it.

“For me, it was humiliating,” he said at the original press conference, welling up with tears, “because being a pastor who is also openly gay, I’ve had to deal with this in the past and literally the feeling that I had just resurfaced a bunch of painful memories of things that have happened to me.”

His lawyer, Austin Kaplan, said his client was “shocked, disgusted and humiliated” when he supposedly saw the slur.

Whole Foods threatened to launch a countersuit, seeking $100,000 and claimed Mr Brown was a fraud. It released CCTV footage showing Mr Brown purchasing the cake, which they said was evidence it had not been tampered with.

“We’re very pleased that the truth has come to light,” Whole Foods said in a statement. “Given Mr. Brown’s apology and public admission that his story was a complete fabrication, we see no reason to move forward with our countersuit to defend the integrity of our brand and team members.”

People on social media were debating Mr Brown’s credibility, questioning why he had not noticed the slur on his cake as it was sold in a clear plastic box.