Drag icon Bob the Drag Queen eviscerated California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for throwing trans people under the bus and failing to empathize with the community.

During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Weekend: Primetime with Ayman Mohyeldin and Antonia Hylton, Mohyeldin brought up the fact that Newsom has been speaking to right-wing media like anti-LGBTQ+ MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk “and basically calling out the Democrats… for taking a position of being pro-trans.”

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He said “good people” oppose trans kids participating in school sports and it “doesn’t make you homophobic” to want to ban them.

At that, Bob replied, “Can I just say, speaking to Charlie Kirk is never a good idea. No one should be speaking to Charlie Kirk. I don’t know if we still do that kind of social isolation where we’ve all just agreed that this is one person we will not be speaking to, but I do believe Charlie Kirk is that person.”

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Newsom, who is widely considered to have presidential ambitions, had Kirk as the first guest of his new podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, in March. Kirk, the founder of right-wing student group Turning Point USA, has called being gay an “error” and compared homosexuality to alcoholism and drug addiction. He has called trans people “an abomination” and said transgender identities are “against our senses” and “against the natural law.”

On the podcast, Newsom agreed with Kirk that it’s “deeply unfair” to allow transgender female athletes to compete against other girls and women.

His response echoes other post-election Democrats who say that supporting trans athletes and prisoners alienates voters. His comment also came on the heels of the president’s executive orders banning trans athletes, restricting gender-affirming care, and ending all federal recognition of trans identities (including rights for trans inmates).

Bob slammed Newsom for failing to understand the real people he is selling out.

“I will say this: No one who actually knows a trans person would ever go around saying and doing these things. And I mean, actually knows… Your partner, your children, your parents, your cousin, your best friend, like, people that you see on a daily basis. When you realize that everyone’s just trying to live their life… trying to go to the bathroom, trying to have jobs, take care of their families… Transgender is not a dirty word.”

He concluded by reminding marginalized people that they belong in this country.

“America was not built by a monolithic group of people,” he said. “They would like you to believe that America was built by all these old, straight white guys, but there were queer people, there were people of color, there were Black people, Asian people, all building this country, literally building with our bare hands… They could not have built this country without us and they cannot sustain it without us either, so just remember that.”

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