Right-wing commentator and TV host John Cardillo is facing backlash after a weird take on an image of Joe Biden kissing his son, which could be another desperate attempt to smear Biden and his family ahead of the 2020 election.
The photo in question is a black-and-white shot showing Biden embracing his youngest son, 50-year-old Hunter Biden, while giving him a kiss on the cheek. Cardillo, a former New York Police Department officer and vocal supporter of Donald Trump, took to the social media site to ask his 270,000 followers: “Does this look like an appropriate father/son interaction to you?”
Cardillo’s criticism of the father-son interaction didn’t stop there. He followed up the next morning to again insult the former vice president and their family. “Good morning to everyone except the creepy Bidens and their creepy staged pics,” he tweeted.
Cardillo’s tweet amassed over 60,000 replies as of Thursday evening, with the LGBTQ+ community and allies calling him out for homophobia, toxic masculinity, and sexualizing a relatively normal parental interaction.
“I feel the taboo of men having physical contact with each other is rooted in homophobia,” said Paul Bloomer, a self-described bear and trans ally based in Northern Ireland. “It’s ruined the healing power of touch between men. Physical contact, hugs, kisses, handshakes, etc., are wonderful things that can have a powerful positive effect on brain chemistry.”
Guy Mantis, a Twitter user in California, shared a photo of his wedding day, calling for people to respond to Cardillo’s tweet by normalizing images of love and affection between men. “If we saw more images (or any!) of queer man2man love and affection, then non-queer images would lose their incandescence,” he said. “Ready? I’ll start. My wedding day. Now you go.”
Some users, such as T. Garcia, expressed wishes that they had received similar affection from their own fathers. “I have a disabled father who can’t recognize me when I call or see him,” they said. “I have a stepfather who physically abused me for several years for being queer. So yeah, I wish I had a father that loved me that much. Because I’ve never known it.”
Queer MSNBC columnist Liz Plank, meanwhile, called for her followers to share images of their fathers holding them, and users readily obliged.
The image Cardillo expressed disdain for was taken from Biden and Hunter’s first interview together for Popular Mechanics following the death of Biden’s eldest son, Beau, who died in 2015 from brain cancer. Beau and Hunter were two of three children born to Biden and his first wife, Neilia Hunter. Neilia died in a fatal car accident in 1972, along with the couple’s daughter Naomi. Beau and Hunter survived the accident with serious injuries.
