Son of US Senator under fire for posting racist and homophobic tweets

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

A US Republican Senator has come under fire after his 15-year-old son posted homophobic and racist comments on several social media sites.

Tanner Flake, son of Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, was found to have posted anti-gay slurs, as well as racism and religious slurs across Twitter, YouTube, and other social media profiles.

In one tweet, Tanner calls the thief of his dirt bike a “faggot”, and in another, he calls a friend a “Jew” for taking credit for his jokes.

TannerFlake

Despite having now locked his Twitter account, a series of tweets from earlier this year showed that he repeatedly used the slurs, and in one he bragged about his father being a member of Congress.

In one tweet, Tanner referred to Mexicans as the “scum of the Earth”, which has caused concern with some, as Senator Flake is currently taking the lead in the broad immigration reform in the US Senate.

Senator Flake apologised on behalf of his son, and for himself, saying: “I’m very disappointed in my teenage son’s words, and I sincerely apologise for the insensitivity,

“This language is unacceptable, anywhere. Needless to say, I’ve already spoken with him about this, he has apologized, and I apologise as well.”

Senator Flake spoke out earlier this year to say that, despite being opposed to equal marriage himself, he thinks a future GOP candidate for the US presidency will support same-sex marriage.