Andrew Yang reportedly tried a little too hard to woo a major LGBTQ group in his bid to become New York City mayor—so much so that one participant said the candidate displayed “Michael Scott levels of cringe and insensitivity,” according to The New York Times. In his Wednesday meeting with the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York ahead of the group’s endorsement vote, the one-time presidential candidate is said to have glossed over substantive issues facing the LGBTQ community and repeatedly focused his remarks on gay clubs and his own gay staffers, leaving participants feeling alienated. “I genuinely do love you and your community,” he reportedly told the club. “You’re so human and beautiful. You make New York City special,” he was quoted as saying. Attendees reportedly took particular umbrage at his fixation on gay bars. “He kept calling us ‘Your community,’ like we were aliens,” club member Harris Doran told the Times. Alejandra Caraballo, another member, compared Yang to Steve Carell’s character on The Office. “When I see a candidate come in just with Michael Scott levels of cringe and insensitivity, it either tells me Andrew Yang is in over his head or is not listening to his staff,” Caraballo said. “Those are both radioactive flashing signs that say he is not prepared to be mayor of New York.”
