SEE IT: Shocking shoeshine by Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy on Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae

A businessman’s obtuse shoeshine has left him socially scuffed.

During a June 14 roundtable discussion about racism at Atlanta’s Passion City Church involving Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, Atlanta megachurch pastor Louie Giglio and hip-hop musician Lecrae, Cathy stunningly whipped out a brush and began to shine the singer’s sneakers.

“I invite folks to put some words to action here,” said Cathy before approaching Lecrae. “And if we need to find somebody that needs to have their shoes shined, we need to just go right on over, and shine their shoes, whether they got tennis shoes on or not — maybe they have sandals on — but it really doesn’t matter.”

Cathy then knelt down to shine while Lecrae, appearing stunned, sat still.

Although intended as an act of repentance amid the national dialogue regarding racial diversity following the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody, the 67-year-old CEO’s boneheaded move was flayed on social media. Among the appalled were African-American Republican congressional candidate Errol Webber, who voiced his revulsion on Twitter.

“As a black man, I implore white people to stop the insanity,” tweeted Webber, who is opposing incumbent Karen Bass in California’s 37th congressional district. “I don’t want anyone to shine my shoes, wash my feet or any other sanctimonious insanity. Just treat me like a person, and I’ll do the same to you.”

During the conversation, Cathy revealed he had previously purchased 1,500 shoeshine brushes for Chick-fil-A employees.

Prior to the shoeshine, Lecrae articulated on his perceptions of racism.

“We want to see racism addressed. I think that like all sin it’s going to be here, right? We’re going to have to deal with it but I think the church has got to stand up and say, ‘We know we have to deal with this’ and so, it’s going to take a purposeful, intentional fight versus kind of this ghost in the room that we’ve just kind of let permeate,” said Lecrae.

The Cathy family, which owns Chick-fil-A, is well-known for embracing Christian ideals, including closing its stores on Sundays and opposition to same-sex marriage. But even some conservatives, notably Todd Starnes, were outraged by Cathy’s actions.

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“I love Chick-fil-A and I defended them through some very difficult days,” wrote the columnist and “Culture Jihad: How to Stop the Left from Killing a Nation” author in a June 19 Twitter post. “But I cannot in good conscience continue to do business with a company that thinks I’m a racist because of my skin color. God doesn’t make mistakes. Farewell, (Chick-fil-A).”

The impromptu shoeshine starts at the 39:30 mark of the video.

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