Montel Williams hasn’t been in the spotlight for a while, but the beloved former television host has been trending lately — and not for reasons that appeal to him.
Thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision to run for president of the United States in the upcoming 2024 election, her past is now being brought up in an attempt to discredit her — including her brief time dating Williams back in 2001.
Not much is known about the length or depth of their relationship. However, as news of Harris’ campaign for president took over the national news cycle, folks digging for dirt decided to use their relationship against her...consequently dragging Williams into the political mess. But, as shown through numerous tweets on X/Twitter—he’s not here for the drama.
In a since-deleted tweet, Williams referenced the above photo and warned against folks using that as some sort of “gotcha:”
“I’ve said what I’m going to say about the thing that keeps trending. My friends in the media should think twice about wasting time on a 20+ year old picture—you will find doing so will earn an unpleasant reaction.”
He later doubled down in another since-deleted tweet, reposting a screenshot of one of his representatives calling out media questions about the VP and his relationship and labeling them as “misogynistic” and “creepy:”
Ask stupid questions, win stupid prizes. I’m going to do this to every reporter who asks me this creepy, misogynistic question. I have no obligation to be cordial to reporters asking creepy and inappropriate questions.
This wouldn’t be the first time Williams has been vocal about unfair treatment and line of questioning towards Harris. In fact, back in 2019, the TV host admitted to their relationship on X/Twitter but questioned if it would even be a topic of discussion “she were a male candidate.”
“@KamalaHarris and I briefly dated about 20 years ago when we were both single. So what? I have great respect for Sen. Harris. I have to wonder if the same stories about her dating history would have been written if she were a male candidate?” he wrote at the time.
As of this week, it seems Williams is still being targeted, as is evident by a tweet sent on Monday from Trump supporter and former White House exec Steven Cheung who decided to post a picture of Williams casually sitting on a couch to his X/Twitter page. (For reference: there’s been a lot of news about Trump’s vice president pick J.D.Vance and an unfounded rumor about his alleged shenanigans with a couch lately. More on that here.)
But in true Williams fashion, the Navy veteran responded essentially shutting Cheung down:
“A very weird tweet from an even weirder guy. Good morning y’all!” he said, later adding in a followup tweet: “It’s really weird that the spokesman for a major presidential candidate would go to my social media to grab a copyrighted photo of me sitting on a couch, projecting calmness, love for life, and passion for respecting the man I am today. I would think an official campaign spokesman would have more important things to do, but weirdos normally don’t.”