Chip Gaines Requests ‘Respect’ for Buzzfeed Reporter Who Attacked Him and Joanna

Meanwhile, last week's season four premiere of Fixer Upper drew nearly 3.5 million viewers.

By Liberty McArtor Published on December 5, 2016

Buzzfeed reporter Kate Aurthur received an onslaught of criticism after her story last week attacking Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s Fixer Upper over the church they attend.

But Chip himself is calling on fans to show respect toward Aurthur and Gina Mei, a Cosmopolitan reporter who joined in criticizing the popular TV couple.

“Regardless of our decision to make a statement about all this craziness, or not, I ask that people please! respect @KateAurthur & @ginamei,” Chip tweeted Saturday.

As Fox News reported, Chip followed with another tweet Sunday: “In times of trouble.. you’ll find the gaines family at church.”

Since Chip and Joanna’s rise to fame with the debut of Fixer Upper in 2013, the couple has been vocal about their Christian faith. But last Tuesday, Aurthur’s Buzzfeed article reported the public fact that the Gaines’s church, Antioch Community Church of Waco, Texas and its pastor Jimmy Seibert teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are wrong.

Since such teaching is a basic tenet of Evangelical Christianity and since Chip and Joanna had never spoken about the issue themselves, many criticized Aurthur’s piece as a “non-story.”

While Chip and Joanna have still not responded to requests for statements about the controversy, HGTV seems to be backing the couple. Fixer Upper’s fourth season premiered as planned on November 29, the same day the Buzzfeed article was released. The premier drew 3.4 million views β€” the most non-news views of any cable show that night, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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