Major League Baseball free agent Tommy Pham didn’t hold back in criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom for using his low SAT score to try and relate to a Black audience.
“I was a straight A student and scored well on my SAT,” Pham, 37, wrote via his Instagram Story on Wednesday, February 25, over a clip of Newsom’s comments. “He thinks black ppl are dumb.”
Newsom, 58, was speaking at an event over the weekend with Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens in front of a predominantly Black crowd.
“I’m not trying to impress you,” Newsom said. “I’m just trying to impress upon you, ‘I’m like you. I’m not better than you.’ I’m a 960 SAT guy.”
Pham, who has played 12 seasons in the Majors, was not the only one to call Newsom out for his comments. Rapper Nicki Minaj blasted the governor via X on Monday, February 23, writing, “His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read.”
Minaj, 43, continued, “He’s not just TELLING them that they’re all probably stupid & probably can’t read, he’s LITERALLY SLOW-ING-DOWN-HIS-SPEECH to make them understand the words that are coming out of his mouth!!!!”
“As if they’re children!!!! That means he REALLY BELIEVES they’re slow,” she wrote. “He’s not just saying it—he didn’t misspeak!!!! He BELIEVES it!!!! Do ya love it?!?!! Do ya just love it, black ppl?!????”
Newsom addressed some of the outrage in a post via X on Monday, quoting conservative pundit Sean Hannity, who shared the video. The governor explained that he was talking about his struggle with dyslexia, which was a main topic of his conversation with Dickens, 51, according to several additional clips that Newsom shared via X.
“.@GavinNewsom Thinks a 960 SAT Makes Him ‘Like’ Black Americans. Let That Sink In,” wrote Hannity, 64.
“You didn’t give a s*** about the President of the United States of America posting an ape video of President Obama or calling African nations s***holes — but you’re going to call me racist for talking about my lifelong struggle with dyslexia?” Newsom replied. “Spare me your fake f***ing outrage, Sean.”
Newsom, who is widely considered to be a contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination for president, was referring to a racist video shared to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social page earlier this month that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Trump, 79, later said he had only watched the beginning of the video before passing it off to a staffer who, he said, should have watched until the end. The president said he did not see the part that included the racist imagery.
“It was a very strong post in terms of voter fraud,” he told reporters. “Nobody knew that that was in the end. If they would have looked, they would have seen it, and probably they would have had the sense to take it down.”
Asked if he would apologize for the video, which was later deleted, he replied, “No. I didn’t make a mistake” and that “of course” he condemns the video’s content.
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