Royce White in 2013 Photo: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports via IMAGN
The Minnesota Republican Party has endorsed Royce White — a former NBA player who has used anti-LGBTQ+ slurs on social media — as their preferred candidate in the GOP’s bid to take the state’s Senate seat from pro-LGBTQ+ Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
White, a 33-year-old who was drafted onto four different NBA teams from 2012 to 2018 (but never played a regular season game), opposes “the church of LGBTQ,” as he calls it. He is also a supporter of former President Donald Trump. The Minnesota state GOP endorsed him He faces six other Republican opponents in the state’s August 13 primary.
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White’s X account is “littered with derogatory statements and offensive slurs,” including seven posts that use the word “f*g” and two that use the word “tr**ny,” according to The Daily Dot.
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In a January 3, 2023 post, White referred to a handful of journalists as “beta, cuck, f-gs,” though he added the word “non-sexual” in parenthesis after the slur. No matter his intentions, the slur is primarily used and understood as a degrading term for homosexuals and men who do not fit masculine stereotypes.
The Guardian, The Washington Post, Mother Jones, The Star Tribune… These were my prosecutors in the 2022 mid-term election cycle. These beta, cuck, fags (non sexual), are foot soldiers of the New World Order. These guys are going be bombing dissidents from cupboards. Fuck em! pic.twitter.com/igUVAFBmvI
In a December 29, 2022 post, White wrote, “Sean Penn is a f-g. Cancel deez nuts… I’m going to say what I want. Ppl who want throw a fit about it and go, ‘You can’t be a politician and talk like that…’ They’re in on it!”
Some ppl are just fags and it has nothing to do with their sexuality. Sean Penn is a fag. Cancel deez nuts… I’m going to say what I want. Ppl who want throw a fit about it and go, “You can’t be a politician and talk like that…” They’re in on it! https://t.co/aaI0gwjUfA
In a September 2, 2023 post, White wrote, “Mental Health is the most important societal issue we face. Not woke “Mental Health”, with Tr-nny Godmothers… The human psychology! We’ve been brainwashed, anybody who dares to say it or do something about it is gaslit or taken out.”
I’ve been saying it for 10 years… Mental Health is the most important societal issue we face. Not woke “Mental Health”, with Tranny Godmothers… The human psychology! We’ve been brainwashed, anybody who dares to say it or do something about it is gaslit or taken out. #Godspeedpic.twitter.com/SiKj7mD0fn
In 2022, he also pushed the false conspiracy theory that the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) was attacked “during a gay lovers sex quarrel.”
“Pelosi’s husband was assaulted during a gay lovers sex quarrel. There, I said it for the dummy’s who can’t read between the lines,” White wrote on October 30, 2023. “No 82 year old man survives a hammer assault, unless his assailant has a limp wrist. How’d he get in the house? Come on! ‘Where’s Nancy?’”
Pelosi’s husband was assaulted during a gay lovers sex quarrel. There, I said it for the dummy’s who can’t read between the lines. No 82 year old man survives a hammer assault, unless his assailant has a limp wrist. How’d he get in the house? Come on! “Where’s Nancy?”
White was a frequent guest on Alex Jones’s anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist broadcast Infowars.
It’s not surprising that the Republican Party would support someone like White. The Republican Party platform — which has remained unchanged since 2016 — calls for a ban on same-sex marriage and transgender military members and supports both “ex-gay” conversion therapy and making it legal for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. Trump’s numerous policies against the queer community have made him one of the most anti-LGBTQ+ presidents of all time.
But White may be a longshot candidate at best. Even if he wins the August primary, Klobuchar won her third reelection campaign in 2018 by winning over 60% of the vote. Also White’s campaign only has about $10,000 on hand, according to recent campaign filings. Klobuchar’s has $5.7 million.
