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ABC’s John Karl’s says heckling DeSantis not ‘a bad thing’ in fluff interview with first Gen Z Dem elected to Congress

January 2, 2023 | | Print Article

ABC’s John Karl charged into 2023 carrying a bag full of Nerf balls for his interview with newly-elected progressive Congressman-elect Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), during which he grilled the woke lawmaker about his super-cool jazz drumming and barely concealed his fan-girl appreciation for Frost’s heckling of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Sunday’s broadcast of “This Week.”

In June, Frost, who is touted as the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress, interrupted a private event with DeSantis to shout over the top of the governor, who was mid-sentence on the stage, “We’re losing a hundred people a day to gun violence.”

Understandably annoyed at being so rudely heckled, DeSantis shouted back, “Nobody wants to hear from you.”

Frost turned the incident into a campaign ad, which Karl played for his audience, telling Frost, “So I saw one of your campaign ads features this interaction you had with DeSantis.”

“Governor DeSantis never comes to Orlando,” Frost replied after the commercial aired, claiming that when he does “it’s to do a press conference where he’s spewing bigotry and hate. Or to make money for his friends which is exactly what he was doing there.”


(Video: YouTube)

Frost patted himself on the back because he “didn’t stand up and yell and curse” at DeSantis.

“I just stood up and said, Governor, what’s your plan to end gun violence? We’re dying,” he said.

“So we came to him more with a plea and what I got in return, was nobody wants to hear from you. Getting dragged out by security. Having popcorn thrown at me and people yelling curse words and racial slurs,” Frost said.

Now you might think a seasoned journalist would point out that Frost clearly went to the private event to cause a scene.

A hard-hitting reporter may have even pushed back against Frost’s disingenuous attempt to appear as the righteous, much-maligned victim, or demanded that Frost provide specific examples of DeSantis’ alleged “spewing” of “bigotry and hate.”

Instead, Karl acted like Frost had caught a coveted guitar pick from an angry Jimmy Page at a Led Zepplin concert and hawked it on eBay.

“And what was the reception that you got for that ad?” Karl asked. “I mean, the moment went viral.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the Gen Z disruptor replied.

“Getting shouted down by the Republican governor as a young candidate–” Karl gushed. “As a Democrat, must actually not been a bad thing.”

“Yeah, well we decided to flip it on its head and use it,” Frost said with pride. “And we put it on broadcast in the district. We got nothing but people giving us calls and sending messages saying, I saw your ad, I haven’t seen an ad like that ever or in a long time.”

Frost’s “viral moment” earned him a ticket to Georgia, where he campaigned for Democratic candidate Sen. Raphael Warnock, who was forced into a run-off with Republican candidate Herschel Walker.

It was there that Karl saw Frost play the drums.

“That was at an indoor skate park,” Frost said. “That’s one of the coolest campaign events I’ve ever been to.”

“So are we going to see more of that?” Karl eagerly asked. “You’re a jazz drummer.”

“Yeah, I play jazz, hip-hop, different styles,” Frost replied.

“Yeah, of course. I mean, something I want to work on, some more extracurriculars, bringing the arts more on the Hill, having concerts on the Hill,” he continued. “Stuff like that. I think it’s important. The arts, it’s really important to me. It’s at the level of politics for me.”

 

Melissa Fine
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