It has been a rough time on the internet lately. While Black folks online were outraged by the Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo BAFTA’s n-word slur incident, on the other side of the net, MAGA folks were attempting to rile up that same outrage for Gov. Gavin Newsom. Why? Because the California governor told a presumably Black audience that he’s just like them, because of his learning difficulties and low SAT scores. Except that’s not exactly what happened. Let’s talk about it.
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Recently, Newsom has been on a book tour to promote his new memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery,” which releases today (Feb. 24). The book delves into moments and struggles in Newsom’s life that helped to shape his political journey, one of them being his struggle with dyslexia, according to the books description in Barnes & Nobles.
During his tour, Newsom stopped at the Rialto Center for the Arts in Atlanta on Sunday (Feb. 22) for a lengthy interview hosted by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, according to NewsNation. Throughout their talk, Newsom frequently spoke about his dyslexia and—attempting to relate to his audience—stated that he wasn’t any better than anyone in the room, because he received a 960 SAT score and continues to have struggles reading.
“I’m not trying to impress you. I’m just trying to impress upon you. I’m like you. I’m no better than you. You know? I’m a 960 SAT guy,” he said. “I’m not trying to offend anyone, trying to act all there if you got 940, but literally a 960 SAT guy. I cannot— you’ve never seen me read a speech, because I can’t read a speech.”
While Mayor Dickens and the audience laughed in the clip, it has been circulated on X by the popular MAGA account @Endwokeness, which twisted the context of the video to seem as though Newsom was trying to relate to Black folks by calling himself illiterate. This, of course, caused instant negative reactions.
“Here we go with the pandering. Next thing you know, he is going to tell you he can fix Collard Greens, eat fried chicken, and put hot sauce on everything,” commented one Black user.
“Yooooo, “I’m like you…my smoke alarm chirps every 30 seconds…” Take note, Black America,” added another.
While Newsom received backlash from Black people for the clip, the majority of the negative attention came from MAGA folks fanning the flames of the California Governor’s hate train.
“To me, the most offensive part is the host laughing right along with Newscum. He didn’t stand up for Black people. He just allowed the racist Liberal to be… well, racist because Newscum is a Democrat,” added another.
“Gavin Newsom told the Atlanta mayor that black people can’t read or write and basically are stupid. Is that Jim Crow 2.0 X marks the spot,” posted one account with the user @magabrotherx.
But Newsom is not letting conservative folks get away with twisting the meaning of his words. When Fox News host Sean Hannity posted the video and told his followers to let Newsom’s words “sink in,” the potential 2028 presidential candidate did not hold back on a response.
“You didn’t give a shit about the President of the United States of America posting an ape video of President Obama or calling African nations shitholes — but you’re going to call me racist for talking about my lifelong struggle with dyslexia? Spare me your fake fucking outrage, Sean,” he posted on X.
As we previously told you, President Donald Trump caused significant outrage online after he posted an AI video with Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces superimposed onto the body of an ape. After Newsom defended himself, more users on X came to his rescue, posting clips from the event at different angles that proved the audience was not majority Black as had been assumed.
“These the Black people they said he was talking to?” asked one user as the camera panned to a White audience.
“There are so many legitimate reasons to dislike Gavin Newsom. But don’t fall for fake news. Newsom was talking to a room full of white people. He never mentioned Black people. He was talking about his dyslexia. And he made the same exact comment to a white interviewer,” posted political commentator and Root 100 honoree Marc Lamont Hill.
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