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Adam Housley, the husband of Tamera Mowry, is catching heat for his take on food stamps and possible upcoming reform to benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The controversy stemmed from Trump administration Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins' recent remarks that Americans may be banned from using food stamps on "sugary drinks" and other "bad food."
“Truly, this program has grown so large, especially in the last administration. Under [President Joe] Biden, I think [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] grew almost 30% more than before. We really need to look at where that money is going, what it’s being spent on,” Rollins said.
“Do we have the healthiest choices? So when a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP, are we OK with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks to children who perhaps need something more nutritious?” she added.
Housley took to X, formerly Twitter, to share his opinion on Rollins' remarks, seemingly agreeing with the agriculture secretary.
“As a kid who grew up in neighborhood grocery stores since I was 5, I can’t tell you how many times I saw people come in and buy crap food for their kids with food stamps, then open the wallet and use cash for liquor, beer, wine and cigarettes," Housley said. "Then there were those who would repeatedly buy a lemon or lime, get the change, walk out the door throw them away and do it again. Until they had enough change to buy cigarettes or alcohol."
The former Fox News host then suggested that these people are "working the system."
"As a kid it pissed me off because there are some people who could really use the help and then there are these others working the system.”
Housley was quickly slammed for his take across the internet.
"You can't get 'change' from food stamps. Nice story though," one X user tweeted.
"You were pissed off at 5 years old ? You really want us to believe that 😭😭😭😭😭😭," another user said.
Several users pointed out that Housley was reportedly raised on a vineyard, so his anecdote about observing consumers at "neighborhood grocery stores" wouldn't add up.
Housley responded to one X user about his upbringing, saying his parents owned a small grocery store.
"My parents used every dime they had to open a small neighborhood grocery store. My brother and I basically lived in the backroom and as a family we worked our butts off. I got baseball cards as pay for picking up cigarette butts in the planters. lol. Worked those stores until I left for TV. Brother still runs both of em," he tweeted.
Despite the backlash, the ex-Fox News host seemingly doubled down on his take, stating that the system is "corrupt."
See more social media reactions to Housley's comments on food stamps below.
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