White Nationalist Steve King Mad At His Dratted Phone, And What’s Google Anyway
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) questions witnesses during a House Judiciary Committee hearing concerning the oversight of the U.S. refugee admissions program. Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
When Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, white nationalist Rep. Steve King thought it a good time to ask about an issue his granddaughter had with her iPhone — an iconic product with which Google, and Pichai, is not affiliated.
Business Insider reported that while Pichai was being grilled, King asked why, when his 7-year-old granddaughter was playing a game on her phone before an election, a notification popped up with his image accompanied by foul language.
Then, the Iowa congressman held up his Apple device. “How does that show up on a 7-year-old’s iPhone who’s playing a kids game?” he asked Pichai.
“Congressman, iPhone is made by a different company,” the Google CEO responded, causing the Democratic staff to break out in laughter.
King tried to save himself: “It might have been an Android. It’s just … it was a hand-me-down of some kind.”
Pichai offered to follow up with him later, as in the moment, he couldn’t get into the workings of a secondhand phone, possibly made by a competitor, according to The Verge.
“You know, I’m happy to follow up when I understand the specifics,” Pichai said. “There may be an application which was being used which had a notification. But I’m happy to understand it better and clarify it for you.”
Later in the hearing, Rep. Ted Lieu reportedly told the Iowa congressman that if he wanted “positive search results, do positive things,” Business Insider reported, referring to King’s long history of making anti-Semitic and racist comments.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
