White House condemns online attacks against openly gay Interior spokesman

The White House is condemning recent online attacks against an openly gay Interior Department spokesman, calling them cruel and unacceptable.

The attacks online are targeting Tyler Cherry, Interior’s principal deputy communications director, and started when the right-wing social media account LibsofTikTok criticized Cherry’s appearance on X, formerly known as Twitter. The account shared photographs and old posts from Cherry last week, which sparked an online debate and led to conservative voices bashing him online. 

The Biden administration pushed back Sunday, The Washington Post first reported, and defended Cherry as an invaluable member of the team.

“No one should be targeted simply for being themselves. It is cruel and unacceptable,” the White House said in a statement. “This is an administration that believes to our core in the principle that out of many we are one — and we are proud that the people who serve in it reflect those values as well. Tyler is an invaluable member of our team who continues to deliver for the Department of the Interior and the American people.”

The debate included conversations over Cherry’s style and what it means to appear professional, with “The Trumpertarian” posting on X, “This is Tyler Cherry… the new communications director for the Secretary of Interior of the Biden regime. And yes… those are hoop earrings. What has happened to our country?”

Steve Guest, a former aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called Cherry “one of the radical leftists in the Biden admin.”

Cherry is also an LGBTQ rights activist and is part of a queer DJ collective in Washington, D.C., the Post reported. He has worked as a spokesman for the Interior Department since the beginning of the Biden administration and was promoted to principal deputy communications director in June.

Brooke Migdon contributed to this report.