CNN Apologizes for Playing “Stupid Girls” before Sarah Palin Chick-fil-A Story

CNN has issued an apology for playing Pink’s “Stupid Girls” before a story on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s support for fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A and its homophobic president Dan Cathy.

In what is known in the broadcasting industry as a ‘bumper,’ CNN played part of Pink’s 2006 hit “Stupid Girls” before a Sunday morning segment about Palin and her husband dining at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Texas.

“Sarah Palin is apparently hungry for chicken and controversy,” CNN hard news anchor Randy Kaye said, segueing into the story about how the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee not only ate at Chick-fil-A but posted about her visit on Twitter and Facebook as well.

“Stopped by a Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business,” Palin tweeted.

CNN has since apologized for what it called a “poor choice” of music, but the network denied intentionally linking “Stupid Girls” to Sarah Palin.

“The music selection was a poor choice and not intended to be linked to any news story. We regret any perception that they were planned together,” a CNN statement said.

Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy has come under intense fire recently for publicly reaffirming his opposition to equal rights, specifically marriage equality, for LGBT Americans, and for donating millions of dollars to anti-gay hate groups through WinShape, the company’s charitable arm.

In 2009 alone, WinShape donated more than $1.7 million to groups opposing marriage equality and homosexuality in general. These groups include Focus on the Family (FOF), a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)- designated hate group. According to FOF, “the homosexual agenda is a beast” that “wants our kids.”

Chick-fil-A has also donated to the Family Research Council (FRC), another SPLC-designated hate group that claims to “promote the traditional family unit and the Judeo-Christian value system upon which it is built.” FRC has falsely linked male homosexuality to pedophilia and has called for the criminalization of homosexuality, to be enforced with “criminal sanctions” against LGBT Americans.

Those are but two of the many anti-gay groups that customers are indirectly funding when they patronize Chick-fil-A restaurants.

Sarah Palin isn’t the only conservative politician who has publicly come out in support of Chick-fil-A. Former GOP presidential candidates Rick Santorum, who tweeted how “awesome” the restaurant was on a recent visit, and Mike Huckabee, who has launched a national ‘Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day’ (August 1), have also made their positions very clear.

Nearly 500,000 people have joined the ‘Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day’ Facebook page.

On the other end of the spectrum, several US mayors who support same-sex marriage have publicly slammed Chick-fil-A’s opposition to equality. Boston Mayor Tom Merino urged the company to scrap plans to open a restaurant in the city. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel opined that “Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago’s values.” San Francisco’s Ed Lee declared that Chick-fil-A was not welcome in his city, home to one of the largest and most vocal LGBT communities in the world.

“Closest #Chick-fil-A to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer,” Lee tweeted last Thursday.

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