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Artist Who Painted "Tastes Like Hate" on Chick-fil-A Arrested
The Los Angeles artist who said he painted the words "Tastes like hate" on an exterior wall of a Torrance Chick-fil-A has been arrested. Torrance Police announced that they took 30-year-old Manuel "Manny" Castro into custody at about 8 p.m. Wednesday in West Hollywood.Castro was booked on suspicion of vandalism, and was released about three hours later after posting $20,000 bail, according to City News Service.
Though Castro very publicly claimed responsibility for the vandalism, which mimics the fast food chain's own advertising, authorities said following the discovery of the graffiti the morning of August 3 they were "investigating" the incident. They corroborated Castro's description of the events as indicated in the media, and identified him as the suspect.
Police say they recovered several pieces of evidence near the scene, and that they continue to look for a "person of interest" affiliated with the crime.
Castro, an openly homosexual artist, said he did the graffiti in order to voice an objection to the beliefs espoused by Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy, who recently went on record about his company's Christian principles, "traditional" family values, donations to anti-gay organizations, and opposition to same-sex marriage.
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While Cathy's views aren't necessarily shared by every franchise owner or employee, Castro points out that the company takes in a share of the profits from all locations, and that Cathy chooses to give "millions away to people who are against rights for gays."
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