Tim Walz is being accused of spreading racial stereotypes after telling Kamala Harris he couldn’t handle anything better than a “white man taco.”
The Democratic vice presidential nominee made the remarkable claim in a 10-minute conversation between the two, posted to Harris’ YouTube channel.
“Here’s the deal,” the Minnesota governor told her. “They told her to be careful and tell her this, that black pepper is the best spicy in Minnesota, you know?”
The vice president couldn’t help but laugh, but the derogatory comments left a bad taste in the mouths of some viewers.
“This is not cute,” Fox News’ David Marcus tweeted. “Walz is being used as a clown to mock white people.”
Kamala Harris laughed out loud when her VP pick Tim Walz confessed his culinary conservatism: ‘I have tacos for white men,’ he told her
Harris has not had a press interview since winning the Democratic nomination, but she appeared to enjoy her friendly chat with Walz during a campaign visit to Detroit.
Harris has not had a press interview in the 26 days since Joe Biden dropped out of the race, but even her conversation with Walz created tension.
They stood facing each other at what appeared to be a card table in Aretha’s Jazz Cafe during a campaign rally in Detroit.
The pair were busy talking about food when the camera panned to a photo of legendary black singer Aretha Franklin. Walz muttered, “I got tacos for white men.”
“What does that mean? Like mayonnaise and tuna?” Harris replied.
“It’s mostly ground beef and cheese,” Walz admitted.
“That’s okay. Are you going to put some flavor in it?” his boss asked reassuringly.
“Uh, no,” he replied somberly.
The personal chemistry that reportedly earned Walz the choice over Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro left many viewers uneasy.
“It’s like a minstrel show that makes fun of stereotypes of Midwestern whites,” tweeted Washington DC radio host Larry O’Connor
“Black pepper is the best spicy flavor in Minnesota, you know?” Walz told Harris
His exchange left a bad taste in the mouths of some viewers
“You sure do like to embellish your military history,” @mazemoore snapped, referring to the row over whether Walz exaggerated his National Guard record.
“It’s political theater,” sighed Danny Hellman. “Tim Walz has to play the subservient role of the boring white guy with a lack of taste, next to Kamala Harris’s spicy, pepper-growing multicultural girl boss.”
And the governor also managed to offend some civilized people in his own state.
“I like Tim Walz a lot, but as someone who also likes to cook with flavor, I can tell you that black pepper is not the spiciest in Minnesota,” wrote Minnesota journalist Brian Shea.
But no one runs for the White House without having their past criticized, and some were quick to accuse Walz of being dishonest and mocking.
In 2014, the avid amateur cook won that year’s Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hotdish Off with a recipe for Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hotdish that contained nothing hotter than an onion.
When he submitted the dish to the competition two years later, it contained both paprika and chili pepper powder as ingredients.
“It is a strange thing to lie about, but lying is something the man who lied about his drunk driving, lied about his retired sergeant major, lied about bearing arms in wartime, and blithely encouraged and promoted books and articles falsely claiming he was a war veteran did,” wrote Jerry Dunleavy IV.
The bizarre exchange ended with Harris declaring, “I believe I’m the first vice president to ever grow chili peppers.”
But the governor is no wimp in the kitchen, winning the Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hotdish Off with his Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hotdish in 2014 and 2016
And some were quick to point out that both paprika and chili pepper powder had been added to his award-winning recipe when it took home the prize for a second time
“I’m trying to expand my knowledge about food,” Walz pleads.
“You know what?” Harris tells him. “We’ve got some cantaloupes. It’s going to be okay.”
It wasn’t long before amateur historians pointed out that Thomas Jefferson grew chili peppers on his Monticello estate.
“They’re leaning on White Dudes for Harris,” Richard Hanania tweeted. “Says you’re a little lame but confident enough to have a Black female boss and still be a good person.”