
On Thursday, just a day after being publicly shamed by Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) for making a "mockery" of the pain felt by the Black community, Rep. Matt Gaetz posted a picture of himself with Nestor Galban, a young man from Cuba who Gaetz introduced as his adopted son:
Nestor turned 19 a few days ago & will be off to University. He arrived here at 12. As you can imagine, I was trig… https://t.co/DjnFMnSMnY— Matt Gaetz (@Matt Gaetz) 1592495961.0
There is plenty of documented evidence on social media of Gaetz and Nestor together in the past, and former Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA), who has a cross-partisan friendship with Gaetz, confirmed he's telling the truth.
However, this is the first time that Gaetz has so publicly acknowledged him as an adopted son — which immediately raised the suspicion of some commenters on social media, given that he chose to reveal this fact just a day after being accused by a fellow lawmaker of not caring about the plight of nonwhite people.
Some commenters also noticed that Gaetz has previously referred to Nestor as a "helper" or "local student" and that he has been absent from several major campaign events, all of which makes Gaetz's reveal of him as an adopted son more awkward.
@mattgaetz As of right now, there is not a single reference to nor picture of Nestor on your campaign website. Whic… https://t.co/3c0tNhuYyx— Pé (@Pé) 1592507282.0
@mattgaetz Umm, this is weird https://t.co/eXuqd9gBbd— *you're (@*you're) 1592499657.0
In Dec. 2017, Matt Gaetz refers to his Cuban son, Nestor, as his “helper.” https://t.co/XsA3VOIRHq— Siraj Hashmi (@Siraj Hashmi) 1592507474.0
I’m gone for two hours and suddenly everyone has a large adult son named Nestor— Jonathan Myerson Katz (@Jonathan Myerson Katz) 1592507456.0
I mean which one of us doesn't have a 19 year old adopted son named Nestor who came to America from Cuba at the age of 12. Am I right?— Wajahat "Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic" Ali (@Wajahat "Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic" Ali) 1592507295.0
Poor Nestor wasn't invited to Matt Gaetz swearing in ceremony😱🤣 #WhereIsNestor #RefuseFascism https://t.co/fNEiLmlKOz— 2021.01.20 🌊BLM (@2021.01.20 🌊BLM) 1592507243.0
This is my son Nestor. Full stop. https://t.co/cHRIwUp4SY— Philippe Reines (@Philippe Reines) 1592506653.0