This is why GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz just claimed to be father to a 'nonwhite' son

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

last updated 19 June 2020

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) announced Thursday that he has a "son," Nestor Galban, a 19-year-old Cuban immigrant. As late as July 2019, Gaetz's office said he was single with no children, so people were a little confused.

Gaetz, 38, clarified to People on Thursday evening that he has not adopted Galban, but he said the teenager has essentially lived with him since Galban was 12 and newly arrived from Cuba. At the time, Gaetz was dating and living with Nestor's aunt. "He is a part of my family story," Gaetz said, and "my son in every conceivable way." Galban tweeted Thursday night that Gaetz is "the best dad/mentor anyone could ever ask for."

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Richmond said he's "a black male who went to the fifth-best public high school in the country, who was a victim of excessive force, who has a black son, who has worries that you all don't," and his white male colleagues who "keep introducing amendments that are a tangent and a distraction" have "never lived in my shoes, and you do not know what it's like to be an African American male." Gaetz cut in: "Are you suggesting that none of us have nonwhite children?"

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.