Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comments from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff, Nathan Barankin.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The office of embattled California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doubling down after telling a journalist to “fuck off” — and defending the remark in responses to Headline USA.
The profane exchange followed backlash over Newsom’s “racist” remarks at an Atlanta event on Monday, where the potential 2028 candidate appeared to compare his dyslexia and low SAT score to attendees in Atlanta, a predominantly black city.
After RealClear journalist Susan Crabtree requested evidence of a dyslexia diagnosis tied to the governor’s comments, Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon replied bluntly: “Respectfully, fuck off.” The email quickly went viral on social media.
Headline USA then contacted Gardon and Newsom’s chief of staff, Nathan Barankin, shortly before midnight, pressing them on whether the response had been cleared by leadership within the governor’s office.
In remarks to this outlet, Gardon doubled down on the flippant message, writing, “My response was cleared by Susan’s mom.”
Meanwhile, Barankin added in a separate email: “I’m handling this situation as I deem appropriate.”
The controversy stemmed from Newsom’s appearance in Atlanta, where he was promoting his book Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.
“I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you, ‘I’m like you. I’m not better than you.’ I’m a 960 SAT guy,” Newsom told Dickens, who is black.
As quoted by the New York Post, Newsom added, “And I’m not trying to offend anyone. I’m not trying to act all there if you got 940 … You’ve never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech.”
Critics quickly slammed Newsom’s remarks as tone-deaf, patronizing and even “racist”, particularly given the setting in Atlanta.
Among them was rapper and Trump supporter Nicki Minaj, who wrote on X: “His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, mocked Newsom as well, calling him the “perfect Democrat, made in a laboratory, dripping with racist condescension. But also very pretty.”
His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read.
This means my first read on him was correct. He’s been handed so many things & put in high positions he never earned or deserved.
Do you wanna know the craziest part of this footage that… https://t.co/llo1k7F7wB
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) February 23, 2026
