ABOVE: The Buttigieg family. Photo via Chasten Buttigieg (R)/Instagram.
Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, took to Instagram to call out a user who left a homophobic comment on Buttigieg’s New Year’s photos.
Over the weekend, Buttigieg posted a family photo with his husband and their two children, Joseph August and Penelope Rose.
“2021 brought with it many challenges, but it also gave us a lot to be grateful for,” Buttigieg wrote. “#HappyNewYear, friends. Here’s to a peaceful and joyful 2022!”
Though most of the comments the post received were positive, one commenter, identified as Andre Kravchenko, said: “Someone gave these [censored] kids??? Holy [censored.]”
Buttigieg, who censored some of Kravchenko’s words, decided to respond to the comment by posting it on his Instagram story.
“In the year 2022, you’d think these people would be wise enough to post their homophobia from an alt account, not one easily connected to their job,” he wrote. “Rather embarrassing for @AmericanHomes4Rent, a company that claims to be an equal housing provider and one that’s ‘building a culture of inclusion and belonging.’ I worry for your tenants.”
Kravchenko is a former employee of the real estate company American Homes 4 Rent.
The company took to Instagram, saying: “We were saddened to learn that a former employee—or someone using their account—recently posted an offensive comment aimed at @ chasten.buttigieg and @pete.buttigieg.”
“We want to clarify that, despite this individual’s outdated LinkedIn account information, they have not been employed by our company for 5+ years, and further do not represent our beliefs and policies,” the statement added.” We do not approve of nor do we condone discriminatory language or behavior.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYUnVEDPB8f
Buttigieg made a second post to his story with a screenshot of a comment from Skyline Properties in Seattle, Washington, where Kravchenko was an independent contractor.
“To all who are posting,” Skyline Properties wrote. “Skyline could not possibly know what 1,200 of our independent contractors could be doing at any given moment. There is no way on gods green earth that you, me air anyone else could know in advance what someone might think or post. Now that I am aware of the post I will have a conversation with the broker. Thank our for letting me know. Scott Hotes. Skyline.”
Buttigieg responded: “This defensive response tells us exactly how that ‘conversation’ is going to go.”
Skyline Properties updated Instagram followers Tuesday with a post announcing that they fired Kravchenko after having a conversation with him regarding the comment.
“After spending time to properly review the comments made by this individual, we have found that this was not some fluke, mistake, or hacking situation, and have promptly FIRED him from Skyline Properties,” the company said.
They added: “That being said, we would like to sincerely apologize to the Buttigieg family and the LGBTQ+ community for any harm that came from the bigotry of this individual. We do not tolerate ANY hate speech of any kind, nor do we have a place for ANY brokers who participate in such hateful behaviors. We must be as clear as possible when we say we have zero tolerance towards this behavior.”
