Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake apologizes for teen son's slur-filled Twitter, Facebook postings

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a devout Mormon and family man, has apologized for homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic comments posted online by his teenage son.

The high schooler, Tanner, posted the offensive remarks in February and March. In one message he threatened the "f----t" who stole his motorcycle from a church parking lot and frequently used the N word in a series of Facebook postings.

The Republican lawmaker said he was "very disappointed" in his son's online behavior.

"This language is unacceptable, anywhere. Needless to say, I've already spoken with him about this, he has apologized, and I apologize as well," the senator said in a statement.

The GOP politician recently brought his son Tanner into the spotlight by publicizing a survival expedition they had embarked on, making public the father-son bonding experience on his Facebook page.

Tanner Flake's offensive Twitter postings were originally reported by BuzzFeed.

"To the f----t who stole my dirt bike from the church parking lot, I will find you, and I will beat the crap out of you," the boy, whose Twitter handle is @tflakey, wrote on March 20.


"I'm down to own some f----ts," he wrote in February, in a tweet directed at another Twitter user.

His tweets also included an anti-Semitic message directed at an undisclosed Twitter user.

"Say something hilarious, and I guarantee that ... will say it louder and get all the credit. Jew," he tweeted in February.

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Angry constituents soon took to the Senator's Facebook page to voice their outrage.

"Shame on you! Your son is an embarrassment to this country," one person wrote, with another adding, "You said your son has a language problem. While his language is deplorable, you son has a bigotry problem."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ariz-sen-aplogizes-teen-son-online-slurs-article-1.1371590