The Lone Star State’s upper-chamber congressional officials often post about the latest controversies on social media. Recently, Cruz bravely stood up to a Sesame Street character, Big Bird, for promoting COVID-19 vaccines, for instance.
Then on Wednesday, Texas' junior senator appeared particularly concerned about a culturally insensitive cartoon character used to promote butter.
In 1928, the dairy industry giant Land O'Lakes rolled out its mascot, an indigenous woman dubbed “Mia,” who was clad in stereotypical clothing and held a container of dairy product. But in 2020, the company began to phase out Mia after sports teams and schools dropped similar indigenous titles, symbols and images, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Rather than applaud the company for upping its cultural sensitivity, Cruz slammed Land O'Lakes on social media this week. The senator retweeted a photo of Land O'Lakes butter, sans Mia, that had the caption, “They literally removed the Indian and kept the land.” In his own tweet, Cruz tacked on an addendum: “Why does the Left hate Indians?”
First of all, we’re not sure just how much “the Left” had to do with the brand’s logo evolution. Secondly, as NativeKnot.com explains, “Indian” is used to describe those who are from the country India. For the indigenous peoples of America, the term is considered a painful reminder of centuries of violence, theft, racism and genocide.Why does the Left hate Indians? https://t.co/kWCxCSZqUD
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 9, 2022
Regardless, this isn’t the first time Cruz has had butter on the brain. Way back in 2014, while at the Iowa State Fair, Cruz gifted the world with the Mona Lisa of all tweets.
Posing in front of a “cow made of butter,” Cruz gushed that his girls would love to see the strange sculpture. He added that his daughter Caroline’s first sentence was “I like butter.” Cute.
Switching over to a separate category on the food pyramid, Cornyn on Thursday shared a Wall Street Journal article explaining that the state’s meat lovers have been getting their piggy banks emptied out. The Journal article says some restaurant owners have seen brisket’s wholesale price double within the past year or so, spelling bad news for BBQ joints.Wow, a cow made of butter. My girls would love it. In fact, the first sentence Caroline ever said was "I like butter" pic.twitter.com/TzBZJmVFKT
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 9, 2014
“Texas barbecue is a pillar of the state’s culture,” Cornyn said in a tweet. “Rising meat prices have some worried about its future.”
With spikes in gas and food prices, costlier beef is definitely bad news for smoked-meat lovers. But the post is a little rich coming from Cornyn, who shocked the world on Christmas Eve 2020 with his own questionable BBQ attempt, which inspired a controversy he later called #BRISKETGATE.
The Observer’s then-food editor noted at the time that Cornyn wasn’t the only one posting their holiday dinner: “But he might’ve been the only one to do so and attract the attention of cooks, food lovers and anyone else who appreciates meat that looks like it wasn’t overcooked and slathered in a dense ketchup.” Mal appetit.Brisket family tradition pic.twitter.com/VbJry2rcfZ
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) December 25, 2020
Between woke butter and bougie beef, maybe Cruz and Cornyn will be convinced to drop the animal products and embrace a plant-based lifestyle, but we won't be holding our breath.
