Gay ‘Jeopardy!’ contestant slams Republicans for using his image to attack Obama
A gay man who appeared on long-running game show Jeopardy! has hit out at the Republican Party – for using his image to attack Barack Obama.
Ahead of Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address before leaving office in 2017, the official website of the House Republicans posted a “Snap of the Union” GIF to promote their Snapchat, which snarked at Obama throughout the evening.
The animated image features Jeopardy! contestant Louis Virtel, who had a moment of triumph on the game show… but there’s just one problem.
Mr Virtel believes that the Republican Party is ardently homophobic, and took to Twitter to attack the party’s hypocrisy given its atrocious record on LGBT rights.
Six of the party’s Presidential hopefuls have backed a new law that would permit discrimination against married gay couples – while others pledged to void same-sex marriage altogether.
He wrote: “Hey, GOP! Your candidates are horrifying garbage who’ve done nothing for LGBT rights. Don’t use my image.
“The reason people liked my snap was because it defied regressive, homophobic, scary-ass losers like you.
“I think every day about closeted gay kids who want to kill themselves because their parents are ignorant, fearful Republicans.”
Mr Virtel also wrote a piece for HitFix, adding: “The fact that the GOP can’t detect gay pride in arguably the gayest “Jeopardy!” moment of all time is proof of their brutal ignorance.
“There is nothing sassy or cute about the GOP invoking my image to prove they’re hip with the kids, who almost unanimously think they’re a joke anyway.
“The GOP’s aggressive, anti-gay hysteria fills me with contempt, and this is just another laughably moronic mistake to consider alongside their regressive legacy.”
However, despite media coverage the page is still on the party’s website.
Mr Virtel joked: My image is STILL on the odious @GOP site. In lieu of flowers, please donate to CAROL’s Best Picture campaign.”
Of course, it probably isn’t the worse thing the Republicans got up to around the State of the Union speech. They also invited Kim Davis.
Watch the original snap below:
