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MLB free agent Tommy Pham addressed recent comments from California Governor Gavin Newsom about SAT scores during an event in Georgia.
In a post on his Instagram Stories on Wednesday, Pham reshared a screenshot of the clip of Newsom telling a crowd, “I’m just like you, I’m a 960 SAT guy. I can’t read.”
Pham accused Newsom of thinking black people are “stupid.”
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“I can’t deal with the fact that I was a straight A student and scored well on my SAT, he thinks that’s black [people] are stupid,” Pham wrote.
Newsom’s original comments led to widespread criticism on social media, as some assumed his comments had racial undertones.
“I’m not trying to impress you,” Newsom said while chatting with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, “I’m just trying to impress you, ‘I’m just like you. I’m not better than you.’ I’m a 960 SAT guy.”
In another story, Pham again shared a screenshot of a clip of Newsom speaking on his podcast to journalist Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes about their 230-page book “Fight,” with Newsom claiming he finished the entire book in under two and a half hours.
Pakinomist Digital has reached out to Newsom’s office for a response.
“You’ve written one hell of a book, and I don’t say that lightly, and a quick hour and a half, almost two hours, and believe me, I’m not ready very quickly, but it reads at an incredible pace,” Newsom told the reporters, who are both white.
A clip of that quote has resurfaced in recent days, as many critics pointed out the contrast between Newsom’s comments about his literacy there compared to his discussion with Dickens.
Newsom defended himself in one post on X on Monday, making it the case that he spoke strictly about his dyslexia.
“First MAGA mocked his dyslexia and now they’re calling him a racist for talking about his low SAT scores,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Pakinomist Digital in response to criticism of the clip.
“This is MAGA manufactured outrage. The governor has been saying this publicly for years – including with Charlie Kirk and dozens of other audience members. The same people who excused or ignored Trump’s racist monkey video can f— themselves.”
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Many have defended Newsom on social media, pointing out his dyslexia, and Mayor Dickens responded to the controversy in a Instagram posts said: “It wasn’t an attack on anyone. It was a moment of vulnerability about his own journey.”
“Trying to blame dyslexia is something that’s completely separate from what he intended to say,” Rankin said. “He really believes that black people, black Americans, are intellectually inferior. That’s where his comments came from.”
