Chip and Joanna Gaines enjoy date night amid backlash

USA Today

16-07-2025

Chip and Joanna Gaines are stepping out for date night amid fan backlash for casting a gay couple on their new Magnolia Network series.
The home improvement A-listers went to an Eric Church country concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado with a group of friends, according to a July 15 post on Instagram by the "Mini Reni" star.
"What a night✨ The choir, the instruments, the music, the venue—what an incredible show @ericchurchmusic," Joanna Gaines posted. "We love the new album Evangeline Vs The Machine!" The post was set to lyrics from Church's single "Hands of Time" off his new album released in May that explores creativity versus the world's conformity.
Chip, Joanna Gaines cast a gay couple. Then came the backlash.
On her Instagram story, Gaines also posted a thinly veiled reference to critics using lyrics from the title track off of Church's 2006 debut album "Sinners Like Me."
"On the day I die, I know where I'm going to go; Me and Jesus got that part worked out, I'll wait at the gates 'til his face I see and stand in a long line of sinners like me," she shared, adding a praying hands emoji to the post. The Gaineses also shared July 15 that they helped raise $1 million for the Texas Hill Country flooding victims alongside corporate partners.
The former HGTV stars, who have long been vocal about their Christian faith, have angered some viewers in recent days as their new show "Back to the Frontier" features a same-sex couple.
"Frontier" (Thursdays, 8 ET/PT), which premiered this month on HBO Max and their own Magnolia Network, follows several families as they attempt to live life like frontiersmen in the 1800s. Among the families taking on the challenge is the Hanna/Riggs clan from Texas, comprised of married couple Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs and their 10-year-old twin sons.
Why Joanna Gaines cried over frontier reality series: 'I'm not a crier, but I felt it'
On July 12, Franklin Graham – the powerful evangelist and son of pastor Billy Graham, one of the most famous faith leaders in American history – called the choice to cast the family "disappointing."
But Chip Gaines hit back, responding to criticism with a Bible verse and telling fans to "talk, ask qustns, (sic) listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never."
"It's a sad sunday when 'non believers' have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian," he added on X.
Contributing: Anna Kaufman