Newsom under fire from the left over ‘cheap homophobia jokes’ targeting rivals

Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democrat of California, is facing backlash from the left over his social media tactics and the “cheap” homophobic jokes his accounts have used to target his Republican rivals, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Newsom’s press office account on X targeted members of the GOP with references to “Grindr,” a popular LGBTQ+ dating app. The X account replied Wednesday to a message from Benny Johnson regarding reports of alleged fraud in California.

“We got a call from Grindr after that and said your team was their biggest user. Congratulations!” Newsom’s office wrote. This wasn’t the first time the office used Grindr as a punchline. In January, Newsom’s office responded to another message from Johnson, writing, “We will make sure the Grindr servers are ready…” in response to Johnson saying his team would travel to California to investigate the fraud.

Jane Natoli, vice president of the board of Equality California, a state LGBTQ organization, told the New York Times that Newsom should not return to “cheap jokes about homophobia” and said she and other members of the organization would send emojis to the sky every time her office posted something along those lines.

California Governor speaks during the 2026 “Networth and Chill with Guest Governor Gavin Newsom Featured Session” at the Hilton Austin on March 15, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images)

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Former Rep. Barney Frank, who served as a lawmaker in Massachusetts and came out in the 1980s, said the governor shouldn’t have said it.

“He shouldn’t have said that,” he told the New York Times. “He’s using sexual orientation as an accusation, which is false.”

The LGBTQ+ media outlet, “Them,” published an article last week titled “Gavin Newsom Is Strangely Homophobic Once Again.”

“Them” noted that Newsom attempted to imitate President Donald Trump on social media, as the governor also discussed.

“That in itself is already a strange choice, which is even more bizarre when you take into account that Newsom’s account also posted sentiments that are, frankly, homophobic,” the report said.

Governor Gavin Newsom speaks on stage during the Vogue World: Hollywood Press announcement at the Chateau Marmont on March 26, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

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A USA Today column also criticized Newsom and mocked the governor’s office’s response last week.

“Grindr is an LGBTQ+ dating app. So the joke is that Johnson and his right-wing crew are gay! And being gay is embarrassing! What a sick burn here in 2026!” » the column, written by columnist Rex Huppke, reads.

“On behalf of decent people everywhere, let me say to Newsom and his team: Get lost. Keep your high school bigot nonsense to yourself and stop trying to pretend that there is a mythical ‘middle’ in American politics that wants a Democrat not to be afraid to make homophobic jokes,” Huppke wrote.

Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco in 2004, called on the city to issue marriage licenses to thousands of same-sex couples, putting the current governor in the national spotlight.

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event in support of Proposition 50 in San Francisco, Monday, November 3, 2025. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

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The governor’s press team said the messages were intended to “expose the putrid behavior of the right through ridicule and mockery.”

“You can choose to be offended by what we do or to see it for what it really is: holding up a mirror to the hypocrisy and derangement of trolls like Benny Johnson, who live his life drenched in false outrage,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon told the New York Times. “We do not behave like this fool and his ilk: we mock their hypocrisy and the continued degradation of society, holding up a mirror to what others ignore or dismiss as merely juvenile.”

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment.

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Newsom was challenged last week by Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, who said the governor was using “homosexuality as an insult.”

“It’s so strange to see the former mayor of the most gay-friendly city in AmericaSan Francisco, use homosexuality as an insult. Weird!” Dhillon wrote on X.

Fox News’ Madison Colombo contributed to this report.