Mike Johnson Had 1 Extremely Awkward Question For Kamala Harris
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had an unusual question for Vice President Kamala Harris as he made “small talk” with her at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday night.
“I asked her if her parents had been alive, did they survive to see her serving as vice president, and she lamented that they had not,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Mike Johnson says he made small talk with Kamala Harris by asking her if her parents are alive pic.twitter.com/0AzAnRv71d
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 8, 2024
Harris’ mother, cancer researcher Shyamala Gopalan, died in 2009. Her father, retired economics professor Donald Harris, is very much alive, although the vice president has said the two are not close.
Johnson noted that the two had a lot of time to chat as Biden frequently stopped to greet lawmakers as he made his way to the rostrum.
But his choice of question for that moment left many of his critics perplexed:
Awkwardness personified. https://t.co/pUW7QlWZpr
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) March 8, 2024
I just can’t https://t.co/PmybF9zUIx
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) March 8, 2024
What not to ask on a first date
— Jason Solomon ⚡️ (@solomonster) March 8, 2024
"Are your parents, like, dead or anything?" Quite the icebreaker. https://t.co/Gf6IaD7uKW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 8, 2024
Can Moscow Moses be any creepier?
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) March 8, 2024
ah yes the standard “so is your mom and dad dead” icebreaker https://t.co/R6iRlNUxOe
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 8, 2024
Small talk: Sooo....are your parents dead? https://t.co/Eq8ZFNXTID
— Brown Eyed Girl Too 🌊💙🇱🇷 (@BEG_two) March 8, 2024
They are all so weird and creepy https://t.co/fq0G8FxyY7
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 8, 2024