Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) has accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) of “code-switching” his accent to try to appeal to Black people.
Appearing Monday on conservative political commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast, “The Benny Show,” the conversation kicked off after host Johnson slammed Newsom for supposedly trying to alter his voice recently on the “All the Smoke” podcast hosted by ex-NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
After Johnson called Newsom an “elitist, white left-wing lib[eral]” and argued that he’s “never heard him talk like this before” the politician’s appearance on the podcast, Hunt bluntly responded, “We call this code-switching.”
Johnson then interjected to continue poking fun at the “cringe” interview, asking Hunt why he thinks “this happens so much.”
“This is exactly what you nailed. This is the efforts of white benevolent liberals that don’t view us as equal at all — and by us, I mean Black people,” Hunt said. “They talk down to us. They think we are too stupid to get an ID to vote, they think that we’re incapable of following the law, they always want to give us handouts instead of hand-ups.”
The GOP representative went on to declare that the “white, benevolent liberal” is the “most racist person” that he’s “ever seen in the history of this country.”
Arguing that “many of them don’t even know it,” Hunt continued: “The condescending tone in which they address us is utterly ridiculous.”
“They think they can now talk to two Black basketball stars and then now all of a sudden ‘I’m a brother now too because I’m hip and I’m down,’” he continued. “And to be honest with you, it’s quite condescending, it’s actually quite disgusting.”
Noting that “Black men can think for ourselves,” Hunt added, “The only thing I want from you is to treat us as equals and to respect us.”
Newsom’s office didn’t immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
During his interview on “All the Smoke,” which aired Oct. 25, Newsom opened up about his childhood and detailed being raised by his mother, who he said “came from no money and just hustled” with “two and a half jobs” to pay the bills.
“It was also about paying the bills, man. It was just like hustling, and so I was out there kind of raising myself, turning on the TV … started, you know, just getting obsessed. [I was] sitting there with the Wonder Bread,” he said.
Newsom’s remarks drew laughter from host Jackson, who said he could relate, prompting the California Democrat to double down on sharing memories of his childhood.
“Come on, the macaroni and cheese. This is how I grew up, bro. Every day in the backyard just bouncing the basketball, throwing the ball against the wall until the ball is just like frayed ... that’s it. Whole thing,” Newsom added.
Newsom’s remarks faced backlash online, with some X users pointing out that the political leader’s dad, William Newsom, worked as an attorney for the Getty oil company.
A spokesperson for Newsom fired back at the criticism.
“Anyone with more than an inch of curiosity would know that Governor Newsom was raised by his mother after her divorce from his father when he was a toddler,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Mail. “He has talked about moving between two different worlds, but he was raised by a mother who worked three jobs at one point — secretary, waitress, and paralegal.”
Watch Hunt’s appearance on “The Benny Show” below: