Montel Williams will not take your questions about dating Vice President Kamala Harris—and asking will get you an “unpleasant reaction,” he said this week via Twitter/X.
“I’ve said what I’m going to say about the thing that keeps trending,” he said, seemingly referring to his decades-old relationship with Harris. “My friends in the media should think twice about wasting time on a 20+ year old picture—you will find doing so will earn an unpleasant reaction.”
The former host of The Montel Williams Show also reposted a screen grab from his media rep that showed the rep shutting down Harris questions, calling them “creepy” and “misogynistic.”
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Williams has previously admitted that he and Harris dated “briefly” and questioned why her romantic history was being put under a microscope in a way it wouldn't be if she were a man.
“@KamalaHarris and I briefly dated about 20 years ago when we were both single,” he posted to X in 2019, when their relationship first came under scrutiny. “So what? I have great respect for Sen. Harris. I have to wonder if the same stories about her dating history would have been written if she were a male candidate?” He’s also previously fired back at right-wing pundits who made a big to-do about their brief relationship.
Williams has been vocal online since the news broke that Harris was now the likely Democratic nominee for president, but seemed reluctant to endorse her at first. Initially, he reposted Biden’s withdrawal news with an endorsement of a different candidate, Maryland governor Wes Moore—even though Moore hadn’t himself expressed an intention to run.
“I’d love to see @iamwesmoore leading the ticket or otherwise on my ballot and I’m ready to campaign,” Williams tweeted on a repost of Moore’s statement on Biden’s withdrawal, “I’ve watched @GovWesMoore lead my home state of Maryland, and I know leadership when I see it.”
Though Williams was mum about the Harris news at first, he later retweeted Moore’s statement endorsing her nomination. Moore, only the third Black man ever elected governor in the country, is a rising star in politics who pardoned 175,000 low-level convictions for marijuana last month, and has been floated as a potential Harris VP pick.
As Williams voiced his support for Moore, he seemed to address why he publicly supported the Maryland governor before Harris: “Is anyone surprised I am interested in a politician who also went to the Naval Academy and whose leadership has impressed me?” he posted.
In the end, Williams did express tacit support for Harris by reposting Moore’s endorsement of her and then screenshotting the action again with the caption “Reminding folks I RT’d this.”
But he’s made it clear that he won’t be tolerating any press questions about their brief time together, as he reposted a fan’s tweet that said “LEAVE MONTEL WILLIAMS ALONE!”
