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Arizona Senator Apologizes for Son's Homophobic Tweets

Arizona Senator Apologizes for Son's Homophobic Tweets

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Jeff Flake's teenage son used antigay, racist, and anti-Semitic language on Twitter and other social media.

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Arizona's junior U.S. senator, Jeff Flake, is apologizing for homophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic language his teenage son Tanner used on social media.

BuzzFeed yesterday broke the story about Tanner Flake's bigoted language, reporting that the youth "used Twitter to threaten the 'faggot' who stole his bike that he 'will find you, and ... will beat the crap out of you,' joked about an acquaintance stealing one-liners because he's Jewish, and went by the name 'n1ggerkiller' in an online game."

These and other offensive tweets were culled from January and February; Tanner's Twitter account has since been locked, BuzzFeed reports. The site also notes that Tanner posted screen shots from the online game Fun Run with his racially charged character name, and that his comments on YouTube are full of homophobic and racial slurs, including the f and n words as well as calling Mexicans "scum," plus boasts about his father being in Congress.

"I'm very disappointed in my teenage son's words, and I sincerely apologize for the insensitivity," Jeff Flake said in a statement to BuzzFeed. "This language is unacceptable, anywhere. Needless to say, I've already spoken with him about this, he has apologized, and I apologize as well."

Flake, a conservative Republican, is in his first term in the Senate, having been elected in November to succeed Jon Kyl, who retired. Before that he had been in the House of Representatives since 2001, racking up a less than gay-friendly record. For his three most recent terms in the House, the Human Rights Campaign's Congressional Scorecard, which rates members on their votes on LGBT issues, gave him scores of 0, 20, and 10.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.