Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

White Nationalist Steve King Mad At His Dratted Phone, And What’s Google Anyway

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, white nationalist Rep. Steve King thought it a good time to ask about an issue his granddaughter had with her iPhone — an iconic product with which Google, and Pichai, is not affiliated.

Business Insider reported that while Pichai was being grilled, King asked why, when his 7-year-old granddaughter was playing a game on her phone before an election, a notification popped up with his image accompanied by foul language.

Then, the Iowa congressman held up his Apple device. “How does that show up on a 7-year-old’s iPhone who’s playing a kids game?” he asked Pichai.

“Congressman, iPhone is made by a different company,” the Google CEO responded, causing the Democratic staff to break out in laughter.

King tried to save himself: “It might have been an Android. It’s just … it was a hand-me-down of some kind.”

Pichai offered to follow up with him later, as in the moment, he couldn’t get into the workings of a secondhand phone, possibly made by a competitor, according to The Verge.

“You know, I’m happy to follow up when I understand the specifics,” Pichai said. “There may be an application which was being used which had a notification. But I’m happy to understand it better and clarify it for you.”

Later in the hearing, Rep. Ted Lieu reportedly told the Iowa congressman that if he wanted “positive search results, do positive things,” Business Insider reported, referring to King’s long history of making anti-Semitic and racist comments.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.