Ben Shapiro doesn't understand the facts of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case 

Shapiro has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the baker was “willing to make a cake for the same-sex couple” and their wedding but just wouldn't decorate it with gay themes

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

On Fox & Friends, conservative media personality Ben Shapiro repeated his lie that Christian baker Jack Phillips “was willing to make a cake for the wedding” of a same-sex couple but “just wasn't willing to decorate it with” apparent LGBTQ themes in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission Supreme Court case. Anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Phillips in the case, just one part of its relentless campaign against LGBTQ equality. On December 4, Shapiro made the same false claim on The Daily Wire, where he is editor-in-chief, saying that the baker will “make a cake for a same-sex wedding, but he won't decorate it as such (no groom-groom wedding toppers, for example.)” In tweets responding to that post, Vox reporter Jane Coaston and Upworthy writer Parker Molloy both pointed out that this claim is false. According to the 2015 Colorado Court of Appeals opinion, “Craig and Mullins promptly left Masterpiece without discussing with Phillips any details of their wedding cake.” Similarly, NPR reported that “all agree there was no discussion of any writing on the cake or its design. The message, [Phillips' attorney Kristen] Waggoner contends, is the fact that this is a cake announcing a same-sex wedding.” 

From the December 6 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

BEN SHAPIRO: In this particular case, the baker not only was willing to make a cake for the same-sex couple, he was willing to make a cake for the wedding. He just wasn't willing to decorate it with pro-same-sex marriages. He also won't decorate cakes for divorce cases. He won't decorate cakes for Halloween, for example.