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Actress and TV personality Tamera Mowry's husband Adam Housley recently reacted to the proposed restrictions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by the Trump administration.
Taking to the social networking site X on February 19, Housley, who's an Emmy-winning journalist, winemaker, and former professional baseball player, recalled his childhood experiences to draw a parallel between his upbringing and the potential policy changes. He claimed to have witnessed first-hand the alleged abuse of the system by SNAP recipients.
Resharing X influencer @unusual_whales’s post captioned, “BREAKING: Trump administration may ban the use of food stamps for purchasing junk food, per NYP,” Adam Housley wrote:
“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.”
The journalist continued:
“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 p*ssed me off because there are some people who could really use the help and then there are these others working the system.”
In the wake of his post, Housley faced online criticism with netizens pointing out that he grew up in a neighborhood of wine country in the Bay Area where residents might not have had to rely on food stamps. For instance, one X user commented under his tweet by asking, “Why did you lie like this???”
“If the system was made to help people who need it, they wouldn’t have to ‘work the system.’ Mind you, you’re a millionaire in poor people’s business. You should not be allowed to comment on issues that do not affect you directly. Because how will you know what it’s like?” another X user wrote.
A third user wrote, “I have questions: why do y’all hate the disadvantaged so much?! And when in history did you ever get change back from food stamps? Who in wine country where you grew up was on food stamps?”
In response to the backlash, Adam Housley offered a clarification in a follow-up post on Wednesday while also directly replying to users’ comments.
“Clearly, I was falsely targeted and never had anything to say about SNAP. 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,” the journalist wrote.
In a separate post, Adam explained those who questioned the authenticity of his anecdote.
"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," he tweeted.
In another post, Adam Housley mentioned the “absolute need for assistance in this country” adding the system is “corrupted” and needed reform, especially in his home state California.
Everything you need to know about Adam Housley
According to his official website, Adam Housley is an award-winning American journalist who has covered major news for 17 years. His works have been featured in publications such as The LA Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Napa Register, among others.
Adam Housley covered several assignments overseas during wars and conflicts such as in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Israel, Korea, Pakistan, the Persian Gulf, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. He was the only journalist to have boarded the USS Milius destroyer weeks before the unrest in Iraq.
Adam Housley also covered news across Central and South America. He was among very few to have an exclusive interview with Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega and was threatened by former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to have him and his team arrested. Elsewhere, he was on the ground covering tsunami in Thailand, hurricanes like Katrina and Rita in the USA, and earthquakes in Japan and Haiti.
Notably, Adam Housley toured Taiwan with Major League Baseball and was first on the scene during the Las Vegas and San Bernardino terror attacks as well as the Boston Bombings and LA airport shooting. During the 2003 recall campaign of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the 2005 execution of murderer Stanley 'Tookie' Williams at San Quentin - Housley was the lead reporter for FNC.
Tamera Mowry's husband was a FOX News reporter from 2001 to 2018 and helped cover the 2014 Missouri protests, the FBI scandal story, the DOJ unmasking controversy, Superbowls, NBA playoffs, World Series, and more.
Adam Housley has a double bachelor's degree in political science and telecommunications from Pepperdine University and a master's degree in international relations from the University of Arizona. He is a two-time media fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is on the hall of fame of both Pepperdine University and Vintage High School Sports.
Apart from covering sports as a correspondent, Adam Housley has played professional baseball as part of the 1992 National Champion College World Series, Junior Olympic All-American League, and the Cape Cod League. He has represented Harwich, Montreal Expos, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Detroit Tigers.
Born and raised in wine country in the Bay Area, Northern California, he is now the President of his family vineyard business called Housley's Century Oak Winery and Housley Napa Valley. Adam Housley has been married to Tamera Mowry since May 2011 and have together won the celebrity cupcake wars and run a joint YouTube channel, The Housley Life.
The couple share two kids, son, Aden (born in November 2012) and daughter Ariah (born in July 2015). As per his website, Adam Housley has visited over 50 countries and 44 U.S. states. He rides a Harley, practices Tai kwondo, and is fluent in Spanish.
Adam Housley is not the only one to have commented on SNAP restrictions and food stamps. Newly appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told AP on February 19:
“The federal government in many cases is paying for [SNAP and school lunches]… And we shouldn’t be subsidizing people to eat poison.”
Likewise, Trump's Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins shared with the media:
“Truly, this program has grown so large, especially in the last administration. Under [President Joe] Biden, I think [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] grew almost 30% more than before. We really need to look at where that money is going, what it’s being spent on.”
She further added: “Do we have the healthiest choices? 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?”
Notably, the policy change depends on Congressional votes, as the SNAP program is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and is administered through individual states.
