Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen used a derogatory term multiple times during a telephone town hall Tuesday night when referring to demonstrators who wear red Handmaid's Tale costumes and other political critics.
The comments came during the question-and-answer portion of the call and also included solicitations for his re-election campaign.
"We had some demonstrators in one of our places today that, uh, wear the, uh, the red thing, whatever the, uh, uh, they're, they're libtards that have lost their brains," Pillen said.
Dominic and Shelley Gillen's son Will has special needs. They dialed into the call to listen to the governor and were upset by what they heard.
"He did real harm to our most vulnerable population and their families and to me he owes his constituents an apology," Shelley Gillen said.
"It was not okay, just not okay. He can poo poo it if he wants to he can sweep us under the rug if he wants to, lash out at me fine. But don't lash out at will he doesn't deserve it," Dominic Gillen said.
The governor made the derogatory comments while discussing pro-life issues and responding to a question about media and online criticism of his administration.
Dominic Gillen said he spoke to a screener during the town hall and asked the governor to take back his comments, but never got through on the call.
"I wondered if he was willing or he would be interested in wanting to walk that comment back before the end of the town hall. Well, obviously my question did not get asked," he said.
Lynne Walz announced her candidacy for governor Wednesday and called Pillen's comments "very disturbing."
"To spend precious time in a town hall where you're supposed to be listening to people and telling people what your plans are for Nebraska to spend time calling people names is very disappointing," Walz said.
In another portion of the call, Pillen said: "I love the people in Nebraska and, uh, you know, I don't really give a damn. What those libtards and these people that want to criticize, quite honestly, the more they criticize me and our team and my family, we're doing good work."
Governor Pillen also answered questions about property taxes, Nebraska values, and his outburst during last week's State of the State speech.
I reached out to Governor Pillen's office and his campaign for comment about his language during the town hall, but have not received a response.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.
Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.
