Goya, the largest Hispanic-owned food company
in the United States, is facing political
backlash after its CEO praised Donald Trump.
The president invited CEO Robert Unanue to
be part of a commission to create economic
opportunities for Latinos in America.
At a ceremony for the commission on Thursday,
July 9th, Trump signed an executive order
expanding his Hispanic Prosperity Initiative,
which includes support for charter schools
and tax breaks for businesses that invest
in low-income neighborhoods.
Given a couple minutes to speak on the White
House lawn, Unanue talked about his grandfather
immigrating into the United States in 1936,
and how he built what became a multi-billion-dollar
company out of the opportunities he found
in, quote, "the most prosperous country in
the world."
"We're all truly blessed at the same time
to have a leader like President Trump, who
is a builder."
Those words prompted Latino politicians and
celebrities to call for a boycott of Goya
products.
Julian Castro, who was in President Barack
Obama's cabinet, tweeted this after Unanue's
statement, along with the hashtag "Goyaway:"
"Bob Unanue is praising a president who villainizes
and maliciously attacks Latinos for political
gain.
Americans should think twice before buying
their products."
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the Broadway
musical Hamilton, had this to say on Twitter:
"We learned to bake bread in this pandemic,
we can learn to make our own adobo con pimienta.
Bye."
Trump's policies haven't always supported
Latinos in America, as NBC News pointed out.
His administration has separated parents from
their children at the Mexican border and he's
also threatened to deport so-called Dreamers
— undocumented immigrants who arrived in
the U.S. as children.
The CEO of the Latino Victory Fund told NBC
News,
"It's shameful and appalling that the president
of Goya Foods is praising the most anti-Latino
president in the history of our country."
But conservatives have rallied online to support
Goya, creating a backlash of their own to
the boycott backlash, which some are calling
a "buy-cott," according to Fox Business.
Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio showed
his support for the brand, tweeting,
"Most of these people fronting about a [Goya
Boycott] [...] don't use [Goya Foods] anyways.
And most of the ones who do will cave by [Noche
Buena]."
Journalist Casey Harper was looking to raise
$10,000 on GoFundMe to, quote, "Support Trump
& Feed the Hungry" with purchases of Goya
products.
Within four days, Harper had raised more than
$280,000 from over 8,000 donors.
Harper told Fox Business,
"I'm not surprised we have raised so much
because people are tired of having to walk
on eggshells in political discourse.
Also, Americans are fundamentally generous
people so a chance to feed the hungry and
stand up to cancel culture was an easy win."
Unanue announced at the White House that Goya
was donating 1 million cans of chickpeas and
1 million pounds of other foods to food banks.
He later suggested that critics were holding
him to a double standard since he doesn't
play favorites with political parties.
He had accepted a similar presidential invitation,
in 2012, to participate in Michelle Obama's
healthy eating initiative.
Uananue told Fox News,
"So you're allowed to talk good or to praise
one president, but you're not allowed, when
I was called to be part of this commission
to aid in economic and education prosperity
and you make positive a comment, all of a
sudden that's not acceptable.
So I'm not apologizing for saying — and
especially when you're called by the president
of the United States, you're going to say,
'No, I'm sorry, I'm busy.
No thank you.'"
"I didn't say that to the Obamas, and I didn't
say that to President Trump."
Unanue's true political stripes can be found
in his political donations, which tend to
favor one specific political party.
A search of the Federal Election Commission
database reveals that right after his participation
in the first lady's Let's Move!
Initiative, Unanue donated $370 to support
Mitt Romney for president.
More recently, in 2019, he gave $3,000 each
to the Republican National Committee and WinRed,
a conservative political action committee.
No donations from Unanue to Trump have turned
up yet on the database.
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