During a speech on Friday, Minnesota Gov. and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz called Elon Musk “gay.” The Harris-Walz campaign said that Walz misspoke, leading to the comment.
“That guy, that gay guy. Michigan knows that word,” Walz said of Musk during his speech on the campaign trail.
The vice presidential nominee had been discussing taxes and how the rich had benefited from certain situations while others struggled.
Musk responded to the remark in a post on his social media site X, saying, “I have no problem being called gay [to be honest].”
Musk has become a vocal supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, with conversations continuing to circulate about his potential role in Trump’s cabinet should he be reelected.
This has put Musk even more so in the spotlight of Democrats and Trump’s opponents, who say that the pair are trying to use the presidency to get richer.
In a statement to The New York Post on Friday, the Harris-Walz campaign said that the Minnesota governor “stuttered” and was trying to say, “That guy got.”
“In the video, you can hear someone in the crowd yell ‘dips–t! when the governor brings up Musk,” a campaign spokesman said. “The governor started laughing and stuttered while trying to say ‘that guy got’ — he did not refer to Elon as a gay guy. He got stuck on the G in that guy got while trying not to laugh at the remark from the crowd.”