...
The kicker is that someone found that Kate Whatshername who wrote the article (that Ben Smith obviously approved for publication) actually tweeted that she was angry that HGTV might not have ever included a gay couple as a feature of the show. Three days later, she published her hit-piece. So it's utterly undeniable that she went into this with a mindset of trying to write a hit-piece, and then she did just that.
"Fixer Upper" is light infotaiment, not something super consequential. It's one of God knows how many variants of: pick a somewhat run down house; renovate it; decorate it; show it off. The hosts, Joanna and Chip Gaines are very pleasant (as well as very skilled at what they do), kind of a "straight man" and comedian pair.
But for Progs there's a lot to hate, hate, hate. The Gaines are from and in Texas, they are quietly Christian, they are college educated, they are very respected in the Waco area, they are being normal and successful on TV.
Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken Progs this long to discover and hate on the Gaines. Sounds like the
CfA Effect has become the new normal, and Progs haven't figured out that picking out and demonizing normal will result in their being run over by the
Backlash Bus.