Barney Frank: Antonin Scalia was ‘leading advocate of fag burning, not flag burning’
Former Democratic Rep. Barney Frank charged Tuesday night that late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the “leading advocate of fag burning,” while discussing President-elect Donald Trump’s recent tweet about flag burning.
Panelists on MSNBC’s “Hardball” were discussing Mr. Trump’s tweet that flag burners should lose their citizenship or spend a year in jail. Mr. Frank pointed out that Scalia, Mr. Trump’s favorite justice, agreed in the 1989 court case Texas v. Johnson that flag burning is fundamentally protected by the U.S. Constitution.
“Scalia wrote the opinion, he was very strongly on the other side of [flag burning], and he cited Scalia as his favorite justice,” Mr. Frank said, according to a clip obtained by Mediaite.
“I think there was a pronunciation problem there. You know, Scalia was actually the leading advocate of fag burning, not flag burning,” the openly gay politician joked, using a derogatory term for gay men.
Host Chris Matthews burst into laughter before saying, “That’s not funny.”
It isn’t the first time Mr. Frank has taken aim at Scalia on gay rights. In late March, just weeks after Scalia’s death, Mr. Frank called him a “bigot” who “expressed prejudice in his opinions,” Mediaite reported.
Former Democratic Rep. Barney Frank charged Tuesday night that late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the “leading advocate of fag burning,” while discussing President-elect Donald Trump’s recent tweet about flag burning.
Panelists on MSNBC’s “Hardball” were discussing Mr. Trump’s tweet that flag burners should lose their citizenship or spend a year in jail. Mr. Frank pointed out that Scalia, Mr. Trump’s favorite justice, agreed in the 1989 court case Texas v. Johnson that flag burning is fundamentally protected by the U.S. Constitution.
“Scalia wrote the opinion, he was very strongly on the other side of [flag burning], and he cited Scalia as his favorite justice,” Mr. Frank said, according to a clip obtained by Mediaite.
“I think there was a pronunciation problem there. You know, Scalia was actually the leading advocate of fag burning, not flag burning,” the openly gay politician joked, using a derogatory term for gay men.
Host Chris Matthews burst into laughter before saying, “That’s not funny.”
It isn’t the first time Mr. Frank has taken aim at Scalia on gay rights. In late March, just weeks after Scalia’s death, Mr. Frank called him a “bigot” who “expressed prejudice in his opinions,” Mediaite reported.
