Tamera Mowry’s Husband Criticized For Complaining About Parents On Food Stamps 'Working The System' While Buying Bad Food For Their Kids
Adam Housley's out-of-touch comments on what low income people should spend their food stamps on has people in an uproar.
Kathy Hutchins | Shutterstock Adam Housley — journalist, winemaker, and Tamera Mowry's husband — has come under heavy fire for making some out-of-touch comments about the type of food parents buy with their food stamps.
His comments came after the Trump administration announced plans for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit reform, including efforts to restrict food stamp recipients from purchasing sugary drinks and junk food.
Housley complained about parents on food stamps 'working the system' while buying bad food for their kids.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed health and human services secretary, and Brooke Rollins, the new agriculture secretary, recently announced plans to place limitations on SNAP benefits. "We shouldn’t be subsidizing people to eat poison," Kennedy told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
While some see this as a way for the Trump administration to cut benefits, Housley was in full support.
"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 wrote in a post to X. "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.
"As a kid it [angered me] because there are some people who could really use the help and then there are these others working the system," the former Fox News reporter concluded.
Housley's insistence that lower-income families have been abusing their SNAP benefits to buy junk food was met with a horde of criticism online.
Many questioned the validity of his claims and stressed the nuance in discussions like this.
"Are equally cheap and healthy alternatives readily available in low-income communities?" one commenter astutely asked. Many low-income families reside in food deserts, making it incredibly difficult to access affordable and healthy food and produce.
Others online questioned why Housley was even aware of food stamps, and what people spent them on, at 5 years old.
More still pointed out that he grew up in Nappa Valley, an affluent region of California known for its vineyards.
Housley defended his stance in a series of tweets and later attempted to take back his comments, claiming in another X post that he was "falsely targeted" and "never had anything to say about SNAP." Yet, SNAP is the current name for food stamps, something he certainly "had something to say about."
Experts say it would be very difficult for the Trump administration to succeed in their plans to ban junk food from SNAP.
"Removing certain foods from SNAP — known for years as food stamps — isn’t as simple as it sounds," Associated Press reporter Jonel Aleccia wrote. "The program is run by the [United States Department of Agriculture], not [the Department of Health and Human Services], and is administered through individual states."
"It is authorized by the federal Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, which says SNAP benefits can be used for 'any food or food product intended for human consumption,' except alcohol, tobacco, and hot foods, including those prepared for immediate consumption," she continued. "Excluding any foods would require Congress to change the law."
At the end of the day, what low-income people do with their food stamps is no one's business but their own, especially not Housely's — whose alleged net worth is $4 million. He has never had to rely on food stamps and his entire stance reeks of elitism. Wealthy individuals love to blame the problems of the economy on people utilizing benefits that are specifically in place to help them when really they should be looking at the 1%.
If the problem was truly junk food, then every single person, no matter their income, wouldn't be able to access it. But the issue isn't junk food — it's control and an overwhelming lack of empathy.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.