Paul Burke says he simply was trying to get a laugh and draw attention to an art liquidation sale with his advertisement in Tuesday's Chattanooga Times Free Press that included the quote, "You don't have to be gay to like art."
Burke says the ad is getting a response, although many people aren't laughing.
John Barlew, 27, of Chattanooga, was among a number of Chattanoogans who posted comments on social media outlets Wednesday saying they were offended. Barlew said the ad shows "a blatant disregard" for gay people.
H.G. Stovall, president of the Tennessee Equality Project, a statewide gay advocacy group, said in the current political climate "the timing for a well-intended joke certainly could have been better."
"The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is itself just as diverse as the balance of the world," he said. "Stereotypes are not a fair representation of reality."
Jason Taylor, president of the Times Free Press, said the newspaper was against including the quote in the advertisement, but the client insisted.
"I insisted that it must have attributed quotes to the person saying the quote and must be treated like a political ad with attribution," Taylor said. "From looking at what ran, it does not include attribution to the owner."
Burke, a retired 71-year-old businessman who bought the assets of the former Gailco Gallery this year, urged his critics "to lighten up and not take life so seriously."
"The quote in the ad was obviously tongue-in-cheek satire and I did it to get a rise out of people, which it appears to have done," he said. "It's not a slam on gay people, because I have a lot of gay friends."
The ad is touting the sale of $1 million in art inventory that Burke bought and moved to a Brainerd storefront this fall.
Gailco Gallery once operated three galleries around Chattanooga but closed in 2008 when co-owner Gail Coulter died.
Burke recently agreed to buy and resell more than 12,000 pieces in Gailco's remaining inventory through what he bills as a "Collector Prints Sell out."
Tennessee Valley Pride, a local gay advocacy group, posted on Facebook that the original owner of the gallery "was a classy lady" and "would not have approved this ad."
Burke said the provocative ad is his latest attempt to promote his businesses through "ads that get people talking." The Chattanooga businessman formerly owned Guns Galore, once one of the city's biggest gun retailers, and Native Tan, a retail outlet in Daytona, Fla.
"I always said an ad should be unusual and get people's attention, and if people are upset they need to get over it and enjoy a good laugh," Burke said. "Some people are wearing their underwear too tight, and they need to quit worrying about the small stuff."