Politics
WATCH: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Was Showered With Boos At NFL Draft
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, was loudly booed at the NFL draft in Detroit on Saturday afternoon.
Whitmer, who was introduced as “Big Gretch,” took the stage to announce the Detroit Lions’ fourth round draft selection. As soon as she walked out, the governor was met with a chorus of boos that could clearly be heard through the broadcast. Other fans could be seen giving a thumbs down.
The boos continued even as Big Gretch, who was wearing a stitched Lions leather jacket, attempted to hype up the crowd. The governor did manage to salvage some cheers from Lions fans when she announced that this year’s draft set new attendance records.
She then tried out her best Randy Savage impression when informing the crowd that the New York Jets had traded the 126th pick in the draft to the hometown team.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announces that the 2024 NFL Draft has broken the all-time attendance record with 700,000 fans. pic.twitter.com/6TKj6OQZlB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 27, 2024
On X, users debated as to whether Whitmer received more cheers or boos. While there certainly were several fans cheering for Whitmer, alternate angles from the record-setting crowd appeared to indicate that the boo birds were slightly outnumbering the Whitmer fans.
Whitmer defeated Republican challenger Tudor Dixon fairly handily in 2022 after choosing to focus her campaign on abortion and the overturning of Roe V. Wade.
Big Gretch reporting for duty pic.twitter.com/nQrZmcthMl
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) April 27, 2024
Some even suggested that Whitmer received more boos than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been consistently booed at the NFL draft since it was transformed into a public event.
A viral moment occurred at the start of the draft when Goodell was showered with boos, only for the crowd to cheer when hometown legend Eminem appeared on stage. The crowd proceeded to boo Goodell when he would speak while continuing to cheer for Eminem.
Roger Goodell and Eminem walked out to "Not Afraid" at the #NFLdraft pic.twitter.com/QRDt5ho9Lf
— ESPN (@espn) April 26, 2024