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Oreo tweets 'trans people exist' after Marjorie Taylor Greene controversy, Internet calls it 'divisive cookie'

Greene after trying to block the Equality Act hung a sign outside her office that said: 'There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE ...Trust The Science!'

Oreo sparked controversy on Thursday, February 25, after the Nabisco cookie brand sent out just three words following a busy day of debate over gender identity rights. Oreo Cookie's official Twitter handle tweeted "Trans people exist" after Marjorie Taylor Greene faced backlash after she posted an anti-transgender sign outside her office, directly across the hall from Illinois Rep. Marie Newman, whose daughter is transgender.

Newman posted a video on Twitter of her hanging a pink and blue transgender pride flag outside her office on Wednesday afternoon, captioning that Greene tried to block the Equality Act "because she believes prohibiting discrimination against trans Americans is 'disgusting, immoral, and evil,'" adding, "Thought we'd put up our Transgender flag so she can look at it every time she opens her door" with winking and transgender flag emojis. That evening, Greene retweeted Newman's post and added a video of her hanging a sign outside her office that read: "There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE ...Trust The Science!"

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As soon as the tweet came to light, people started reacting to it. One Internet user said, "Why even take a political stance on this? This is why America is so divided. Even cookies have to be divisive." While another one wrote: "And.... no more Oreos for me. Once a company goes political, I'm done with their products."

One person sarcastically said: "Yes they exist but the truth is there are two genders only. That’s the truth. I can say I’m a unicorn but the truth is I’m a man." While one confused person wrote: "What do Trans people need a charity for? Like I’m honestly just asking cause I’m confused."

While one person replied saying: "Great. I know that. Meanwhile, I haven’t been able to get the surgery I need to finish my transition through 8 months straight of delays. I lost my job over it. But I’m glad I exist, at least." Comedian John Fugelsang wrote, "Great. I finally lost all my pandemic weight & now i need to eat Oreos to support them when all the awful people announce a boycott tomorrow."

Complimenting the brand, one person wrote, "I typically try to call out hypocrisy but, wow... Nabisco's parent company has a 100 rating by the @HRC
while offering trans-inclusive healthcare. Color me surprised in all colors of the rainbow. Thank you for being my favorite cookie."

This isn't the first time when Oreo has extended support for the community and faced backlash for it. In 2019, Nabisco joined other corporations in celebrating Pride Month, giving away special-edition Oreo "Pronoun Packs" at World Pride in New York. "We're proud to celebrate inclusivity for all gender identities and expressions," Oreo tweeted. "In partnership with NCTE, we're giving away special edition Pronoun Packs and encouraging everybody to share their pronouns with #Pride today and every day." Three different packs of 'she/her', 'he/him', and 'they/them' written on the cookies were available, with blue, pink and purple packaging reminiscent of the transgender flag. Even though the Pronoun Packs were only available at the PrideFest street fair, and not sold in stores, they garnered a fair amount of attention online.

But The Federalist, executive editor Joy Pullman slammed the company's initiative and said that Oreo "made clear they're taking sides in the culture war against half of America." She also claimed the cookie-maker was trying to have it both ways by only releasing the packs at Pride: "It wants to get all the cred from LGBT politics without alerting the majority of their customers, who probably won't see their Facebook post and or this offensive product in any store to tip them off."