Conservative Radio Star Pushes Back on Newsom Race Bait Claim

Screenshot/AP

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson pushed back, Monday, on claims that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was talking down to a an audience of African-Americans in Georgia when he spoke of his average SAT exam scores and the dyslexia that made it difficult for him to read.

Newsom’s comments came during a discussion with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) as Newsom promoted his memoir, Young Man in a Hurry.

“I’m not, you know, 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,” Newsom said. “I’m a 960 SAT guy. And you know, I’m not trying to offend anyone [and] act ‘all there’ if you got 940. But literally a 960 SAT guy.”

A 960 on the Scholastic Assessment Test is considered slightly below the national average, placing the student around the 32nd–40th percentile, according to the College Board administering body.

Newsom added that no one has “seen me read a speech, because I cannot read a speech,” citing his dyslexia, which causes a person to process words differently.

After Newsom’s comments, conservatives from Fox News’ Sean Hannity to rapper Nicki Minaj slammed him for insulting Black people.

“His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read,” Minaj argued on X. “Do ya love it?!?!! Do ya just love it, black ppl?!????”

Erickson retweeted fellow conservative Christopher F. Rufo’s camera sweep of the crowd that showed what appeared to be made up of mostly of white people clapping for Newsom.

“This right here,” Erickson posted. “Contrary to the original reporting, Newsom’s audience was Buttigieg levels of whiteness,” referring to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf traced the controversy to a MAGA account called “End Wokeness” that claimed Newsom was speaking “to a black crowd.”

“Incredible how the false words ‘to a black crowd’ in this Tweet framed this misleadingly clipped video in a way that much of this platform just assumed to be accurate — a woke-right moral panic started by an account called End Wokeness,” Friedersdorf wrote.

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