Tamera Mowry’s husband Adam Housley was scrutinized after sharing his views about the changes that may occur within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP– or food stamps.
As Blavity reported, under the new leadership of Brooke Rollins, who was recently appointed as the U.S. Agriculture Secretary, some regulations could be enforced on what kind of grocery items and beverages those who receive assistance from SNAP can purchase. She affirmed the news on Feb. 14 and pledged to partner with the Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Department of Government Efficiency to do this. The overall goal is to empower program participants to make healthier choices by eliminating the option to buy “bad food and sugary drinks,” reported the New York Post.
“When a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP, are they OK with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks to children who perhaps need something more nutritious?” Rollins explained per VIBE. “These are all massive questions we’re going to be asking and working on in the coming months and years.”
Housley, who agrees with the idea, took to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday to express what he noticed about people on the program during his childhood.
“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,” he wrote. “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 pissed me off because there are some people who could really use the help and then there are these others working the system,” the former Fox news correspondent added.
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.
Then there were those who would… https://t.co/1JRNVeOzx3— Adam Housley (@adamhousley) February 18, 2025
His statement immediately got a lot of criticism from people calling him out for growing up in Nappa Valley and coming from wealth, saying he can’t relate to those who need SNAP.
“So you just hung out in the corners of stores and observed grown ass people collecting change over time to buy cigarettes and alcohol…at 5yrs old. Just pulled up a seat and sat there watching folks. Just knew everything at 5yrsold,” one user responded.
“This you, honey?” another person said with a screenshot that read, “Adam is a 6th generation from the Bay Area and was born and raised in wine country, growing up with a vineyard in his front year. He has always been proud of his hometown and loves how it has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.”
“You can’t get ‘change’ from food stamps. Nice story though,” someone else tweeted.
When someone asked Housely, “What exactly do you mean by grew up in neighborhood grocery store it’s since you were 5?” He replied by giving more background context on his initial remarks, “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.”
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… https://t.co/RfdSay5siZ
— Adam Housley (@adamhousley) February 19, 2025
He engaged with another critic to clarify his take on the topic: “You missed the entire point and people/haters have once again purposely lied and taken things out of context. We were talking about how fraud hurt people who truly needed them. I saw it firsthand for years and continue to help people in need out of my own pocket. But that doesn’t fit the hater narrative. Completely taken out of context. That’s the world today tho. Likely none of the trolls and haters have ever given a dime or lifted a hand to help. so there’s that.”
You missed the entire point and people/haters have once again purposely lied and taken things out of context. We were talking about how fraud hurt people who truly needed them. I saw it firsthand for years and continue to help people in need out of my own pocket. But that doesn’t… https://t.co/oh8jwH3vMt
— Adam Housley (@adamhousley) February 19, 2025
Irritated by persistent misinterpretations, he fired off a sarcastic tweet to end the conversation.
“Clearly I was falsely targeted and never had anything to say about SNAP,” he jested. “Thankfully social media fact checkers are calling it out. Last comment on this and glad there’s a net in place to stop lies and deceit.”
Rollins and Kennedy Jr. cannot change the SNAP rules despite their concerns. Any reform calls for congressional action and the entire political process.