‘Beto drops F bomb & the mic’: Reaction to Texas candidate’s profane response to heckler

Stefan Stevenson
·4 min read
12

Texas candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke is seldom shy about what he’s thinking or hesitant to say what he feels, especially out on the campaign trail.

That was profanely clear Tuesday night during a stop in Mineral Wells where O’Rourke, a Democrat, was speaking to a group of mostly supporters and unleashed a particularly incendiary obscenity at a heckler.

While O’Rourke was telling the crowd his views on assault weapon limitations in the wake of the 19 children and two teachers who were murdered by an 18-year-old man in Uvalde, a person in the medium-sized audience could be heard laughing, according to video and multiple reports.

In the viral clip, which has been watched by more than 6.5 million people as of Thursday afternoon, O’Rourke laments the fact that the Uvalde killer lawfully bought his weapons and ammunition the week of his 18th birthday.

“And take that weapon that was originally designed for use on the battlefields in Vietnam, to penetrate an enemies’ soldiers helmet at 500 feet and knock him down dead,” O’Rourke said from the middle of a mostly seated group. At this moment, laughter can be heard, before O’Rourke whips around and points at the heckler. “... up against kids from five feet. It might be funny to you mother [expletive], but it’s not funny to me.”

The pro-O’Rourke crowd erupted in cheers of support of his sentiment.

The clip has galvanized O’Rourke’s supporters on social media, with many non-Texans urging the state to vote for him against the incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott. But the viral moment has also riled up Abbott’s base, with many complaining about the offensive language.