Photo via Pat Garofalo's Government website. Edited by Broadly Staff.
Earlier this week, a Minnesota Republican lawmaker named Pat Garofalo came under fire after he tweeted a statement that seemed to imply antifa protesters should be sexually assaulted as a means of "rehabilitation."The tweet has since been deleted, but it was preserved via the internet archiving site, Wayback Machine. On September 10, Portland police announced that antifa protesters were "throwing irritant smoke and projectiles at police" during a rally against a far-right group. Garofalo then publicly responded, stating that antifa should be arrested, held for 72 hours without bail, and then given "alone time with Bubba in Appalachia."
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Many Twitter users took the last remark to mean rape, with some understanding it as a reference to the film Deliverance. "Gotta love how prison rape is just tossed in there like some normal part of incarceration," wrote WatchYourRepsMN, a Twitter account that monitors the actions of elected officials in the state. Garofalo responded defensively, stating that he "never said" anything about prison rape and that critics were just "making things up."His detractors were not so easily convinced. "Jesus Pat. We understand inference. You can lob an implication that big by and expect people to not call you on it," said one user. Others piled on, calling Garofalo's statements "UnMinnesotan" and "UnAmerican."So far, Garofalo hasn't made any public apology for the statement, which he apparently maintains was not about sexual assault. On Twitter, he has issued just one other response to the growing backlash: "Sad that you chose to criticize me more than the thugs assaulting these police officers," he wrote to someone who accused him of "appeal[ing] to our darkest urges."In a statement to Broadly, Garofalo doubled down on his claim the comment was not about rape. "In my post I said hold them for 72 hrs before posting bail. The 'Alone time with Bubba in Appalachia' comment had nothing to do with prison, jail or rape," he said. "The allegation makes no sense. Releasing someone on bail and sending them to Appalachia has nothing to do with a person in prison."Broadly has asked Garofalo to clarify who "Bubba" is meant to be and what would occur during Bubba's "alone time" with protesters. We will update this story when and if Garofalo responds.