Rachel Campos-Duffy, a Fox News anchor and the wife of President Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, appeared to coin a new antigay slur Thursday night during a segment attacking former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — a popular target on the right.
In a riff prompted by a chyron that read “Mayor Pete: Dems are finger waggers,” Campos-Duffy launched into a tirade questioning Buttigieg’s masculinity.
“He’s clearly gotten the masculinity problem memo. He’s pretending not to be a beta,” she said. “He grew a beard and he hit the manosphere, the male podcast world.”
A clip of Buttigieg from the show aired next. “I do think my party needs to do a much better job, especially with the kind of finger wagging that you’re talking about. I think we are very prone to that,” he said. “You get this sense of moral conviction and you’re so sure of it that you start to think it makes it okay to be an asshole.”
“Isn’t Pete the worst virtue-signaling winger fagger?” she remarked, annunciating the phrase and smirking, before quickly correcting herself and saying “wagger.”
The moment, which aired live, quickly circulated online, with some viewers accusing Campos-Duffy of using a veiled slur targeting Buttigieg’s sexuality.
“FREUDIAN SLIP??” one user posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Rachel Campos-Duffy (whom I love) did a segment on the Jesse Watters show today about the ‘finger wagging Democrats’ and then this happened!”
A Fox News spokesperson told The Advocate that Campos-Duffy misspoke and pointed to her quickly correcting herself.
The segment, which focused on Buttigieg’s widely praised appearance on the popular comedy podcast Flagrant, also featured Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo, who mocked Buttigieg’s masculinity and outreach to younger male voters.
“Mayor Pete is not exactly the one you send out to get the young bro crowd,” Arroyo said. “You may as well send Dylan Mulvaney doing a makeup class and hope you can get more guys.”
Mulvaney, a transgender actress and influencer with a massive online following, has been the frequent target of right-wing attacks for her visibility and LGBTQ+ advocacy. Arroyo’s invocation of her name — in a mocking comparison — drew additional criticism for perpetuating transphobic tropes alongside homophobia. Mulvaney is the cover star of the latest print issueof the latest print issue of The Advocate.
Campos-Duffy followed up Arroyo’s jab by taking aim at Buttigieg’s appearance: “Funny how we thought throwing the beard would somehow change everything. It didn’t.” Arroyo replied, “It didn’t make us forget.”
Buttigieg, who served as President Joe Biden’s transportation secretary and remains one of the most high-profile openly gay politicians in the country, recently appeared on Flagrant for a nearly three-hour conversation about masculinity, politics, fatherhood, and identity.
On the podcast, Buttigieg discussed raising adopted Black twins with his husband Chasten, navigating parenthood as a gay white man, and advocating for equitable economic policy and AI regulation.
That tone, however, stood in stark contrast to the mocking Fox News segment — and the personal nature of the attacks drew sharp condemnation from LGBTQ+ advocates and allies.
Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist and longtime adviser to Buttigieg, fired back on X: “So glad that we have Mr. Arroyo and his spray-painted hairline and spackled-on foundation and service to the country of commentating on partisan TV to demonstrate to us what ‘real’ masculinity is.”
Buttigieg has not publicly addressed the remarks, but his defenders argue that the reaction of the right-wing media only proves how deeply his message resonated.
“Pete’s intelligence and singular ability to articulate his ideas to any audience gets like a mile under the skin of these pathetic frauds,” one person on X wrote.
News
At a backyard barbecue, my nephew was served a thick, perfectly cooked T-bone steak—while my son got nothing but a charred strip of fat. My mother laughed, “That’s more than enough for a kid like him.” My sister smirked and added, “Honestly, even a dog eats better than that.” My son stared down at his plate and quietly said, “Mom… I’m okay with this.” An hour later, when I finally understood what he meant, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
My name is Lauren Mitchell, and the most terrifying thing my son has ever said to me didn’t sound scary at…
The billionaire’s son was suffering in pain every night until the nanny removed something mysterious from his head…
In the stark, concrete mansion perched above the cliffs of Monterra, the early morning silence shattered with a scream that…
“Mom… I don’t want to take a bath anymore.” My daughter started saying that every night after I remarried. At first, it sounded small. Ordinary. The kind of resistance every parent hears a hundred times. But it wasn’t.
“Mom… I don’t want to take a bath.” The first time Lily said it, her voice was so quiet I…
When a Nurse Placed a Healthy Baby Beside Her Fading Twin… What Happened Next Brought Everyone to Their Knees
The moment the nurse looked back at the incubator, she dropped to her knees in tears. No one in that…
She Buried Her Mom with a Phone So They Could ‘Stay Connected’… But When It Rang the Next Day, What She Heard From the Coffin Left Everyone Frozen in Terror
When the call came, Abby’s blood ran cold. The screen showed one name she never expected to see again: Mom….
Three days after giving birth to twins, my husband walked into my hospital room—with his mistress—and placed divorce papers on the tray beside me. “Take three million dollars and sign,” he said coldly. “I only want the children.” I signed… and vanished that very night. By morning, he realized something had gone terribly wrong.
Exactly seventy-two hours after a surgeon cut me open to bring my daughters into the world, my husband, Ethan Cole, strolled…
End of content
No more pages to load
