Montel Williams Once Dated Kamala Harris and Now His Social Media Is a Big Mess

Montel Williams’s X (formerly Twitter) account is typically not the busiest place, but since President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he’s ending his campaign for reelection and then endorsed his veep, Kamala Harris, to take the big chair, it’s been positively hopping.

Williams’s romantic past with the new Democratic nominee resurfaced after conservative shit-posters like “Catturd”—some guy in Florida, according to a Rolling Stone investigation—posted archival photos of the two at events together decades ago. A different far-right Floridian, failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer, expressed such repugnant views about the former couple that the platform, where almost any nastiness is safe, flagged it as “hateful content.” Loomer called the restrictions on her tweets “censorship” and “arguably Election interference by big tech.”

At the news of President Joe Biden stepping down, Williams initially shared a message in support of Maryland governor Wes Moore on Sunday, writing that he “would love to see [him] leading the ticket or otherwise on my ballot and I’m ready to campaign.” On Monday, Williams retweeted Moore’s own tweet endorsing Harris, and then later tweeted about that retweet.

And he has since been on a retweeting—and deleting—spree. He’s re-shared posts from people high-fiving him for his Catturd convos (and deleted them), as well as his publicity rep’s commitment to sharing screenshots of journalists’ requests for comment from Williams about Harris (and deleted them). That rep, Jonathan Franks, characterized the inquiries around whether Williams and Harris had stayed in touch as “creepy, misogynistic question[s].”

Williams appears to be making lemonade out of the whole situation.

“I’d like to welcome my new followers and thank those of you who have stood by me all these years,” he tweeted Monday. “I appreciate you.”

Representatives for Montel Williams did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.