Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was named Employee of the Month at his company for her role in driving sales through the roof this summer.
Unanue sparked backlash from progressives for praising President Trump after he signed an executive order improving educational access and economic opportunities for Hispanic Americans.
"We're all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump who is a builder, and that's what my grandfather did," the executive said. "He came to this country to build, to grow, to prosper. And so we have an incredible builder, and we pray for our leadership, our president, and we pray for our country that we will continue to prosper and to grow."
AOC and Julian Castro were among those who pushed back.
"@GoyaFoods has been a staple of so many Latino households for generations," Castro tweeted. "Now their CEO, Bob Unanue, is praising a president who villainizes and maliciously attacks Latinos for political gain. Americans should think twice before buying their products. #Goyaway"
Similarly, AOC retweeted video from the White House event, commenting: "Oh look, it's the sound of me Googling 'how to make your own Adobo.”
Oh look, it’s the sound of me Googling “how to make your own Adobo” https://t.co/YOScAcyAnC
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 10, 2020
But Unanue had the last laugh.
“We still have to chat with AOC. I love her,” Unanue said during an interview on The Michael Berry Show. “She was actually our Employee of the Month. I don’t know if you know about this, but when she boycotted us, our sales actually increased 1,000 percent. So, we gave her an honorary — we never were able to hand it to her but she got Employee of the Month for bringing attention to GOYA and our adobo. Actually our sales of adobo did very well after she said ‘Make your own Adobo.’”
The CEO called the Democratic Socialist the company’s “hero” because “she helped boost sales tremendously,” noting that they still maintained their base while adding a number of new customers.