Hallmark Changes Course, Will Air Lesbian Wedding Ads After All

Hallmark has once again changed their tune on those lesbian wedding ads they aired, then pulled and reportedly apologized for airing — now they’re apologizing for apologizing and putting the ads back on air.

Whiplash yet?

The whole uproar started after One Million Moms demanded the Hallmark Channel stop airing ads for Zola, a wedding planning website, that depicted a same-sex couple on their wedding day. OMM claimed Bill Abbott, the CEO of Hallmark’s parent company Crown Media, apologized to them and said airing the commercials had been an oversight.

The channel then informed Zola that four out of the six ads in its campaign (aka all the ones with teh gays) were too “controversial” and would no longer be aired. Zola responded by pulling all its ads and publicly scolding Hallmark for basically being great big homophobes.

The backlash against Hallmark for blatantly caving to bigotry, particularly after that same CEO had just insisted the network was open to creating same-sex Christmas movies (lol, sure Jan), was immediate and far more harsh than anything One Million Moms could have sparked.

Variations of #BoycottHallmark trended on Twitter over the weekend after Zola came forward about their ads being pulled, and as article after article was written reporting Hallmark’s brazen anti-gay stance here in 2019, even presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg took a moment to slam the company for not realizing that “family-friendly” includes queer people, too.

And so, Hallmark switched gears yet again.

“Said simply, [the Crown Media team believes] this was the wrong decision. Our mission is rooted in helping all people connect, celebrate traditions, and be inspired to capture meaningful moments in their lives,” said the CEO of Hallmark Cards, Mike Perry. “Anything that detracts for this purpose is not who we are. As the CEO of Hallmark, I am sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused.”

Perry went on to insist that Hallmark is a pinnacle of diversity and inclusion, citing their LGBTQ greeting cards and saying that they featuring LGBTQ couples in commercials. While the apology was quickly accepted by GLAAD, claims that the company is diverse inclusive still feel hollow when all of their movies — possibly what Hallmark has become best known for in current times — are still made up entirely of straight white people.