Tommy Pham was not buying what Gavin Newsom was selling.
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The longtime MLB outfielder took aim at the California governor after Newsom tried to relate to a predominantly Black audience by joking about his own SAT score during a public appearance with Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens. The moment went viral. The reaction was swift. Pham's response was blunt.
"I can't relate," Pham wrote on Instagram, reposting the clip. "I was a straight-A student and scored well on my SAT. He thinks black ppl are dumb."
That line landed like a fastball up and in.
In the video, Gavin Newsom says he scored a 960 on the SAT, framing it as proof that he is "not better than you" and "just like you." The attempt at connection instead read to many as patronizing. Pham clearly thought so.
The former Padres outfielder followed up by reposting another clip of Newsom claiming he once read a 260-page book in an hour and a half, letting the contrast speak for itself.
His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read.
This means my first read on him was correct. He’s been handed so many things & put in high positions he never earned or deserved.
Do you wanna know the craziest part of this footage that… https://t.co/llo1k7F7wB
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) February 23, 2026
Pham was far from alone. Social media lit up across the political spectrum. Rapper Nicki Minaj unloaded on X, accusing Newsom of talking down to his audience and confusing self-deprecation with empathy.
Newsom later said he was referencing his lifelong struggle with dyslexia.
But by then, the damage was done. The clip was already everywhere. And Pham had already said what a lot of people were thinking.
