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Tommy Pham speaks out against Gavin Newsom over controversial SAT score comments
By Jackson Thompson
Published February 25, 2026
MLB free agent Tommy Pham addressed recent comments by California Gov. Gavin Newsom about SAT scores during an event in Georgia.
In post on his Instagram Stories on Wednesday, Pham reshared a screenshot of the clip of Newsom telling a crowd, "I'm like you, I'm a 960 SAT guy. I can't read."
Pham accused Newsom of thinking Black people are "dumb."
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"I can't relate I was a straight A student and scored well on my SAT he thinks black [people] are dumb," Pham wrote.
Newsom's original comments prompted widespread criticism on social media, as some assumed his comments had racial undertones.
"I’m not trying to impress you," Newsom said while chatting with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, "I’m just trying to impress upon you, ‘I’m like you. I’m not better than you.’ I’m a 960 SAT guy."
In another story, Pham re-shared a screenshot of a clip of Newsom speaking on his podcast to journalist Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes about their 230-page book "Fight," in which Newsom claimed he finished the whole book in under two and a half hours.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Newsom's office for a response.
"You've written a hell of a book and I don't say that lightly, and a quick hour and a half, almost two hours, and trust me I don't ready very fast, but it reads at an unbelievable pace," Newsom said to the journalists, who are both White.
A clip of that quote has resurfaced in recent days as many critics pointed out the contrast between Newsom's comments about his reading skills there compared to his discussion with Dickens.
Newsom defended himself in a post on X on Monday, making the case he was strictly talking about his dyslexia.
"First MAGA mocked his dyslexia, and now they’re calling him racist for talking about his low SAT scores," Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Fox News Digital in response to criticism of the clip.
"This is MAGA-manufactured outrage. The Governor has said this publicly for years — including with Charlie Kirk and dozens of other audiences. The same people who excused or ignored Trump’s racist ape video can go f--- themselves."
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Many have defended Newsom on social media, pointing to his dyslexia, and Mayor Dickens responded to the controversy in an Instagram post saying, "That wasn't an attack on anyone. It was a moment of vulnerability about his own journey."
"Trying to blame this on dyslexia is something that is completely separate from what he intended to say," Rankin said. "He truly believes that Black people, black Americans, are intellectually inferior. That is where his comments were coming from."
Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/tommy-pham-speaks-out-against-gavin-newsom-over-controversial-sat-score-comments