Mey Rude
Thu, March 9, 2023
Tennessee lieutenant governor Randy McNally is in hot water after reporters found that he frequently likes suggestive and sexual pics from a gay Instagram user named @franklynsuperstar.
The photos include pictures that show close-ups of the man’s butt in underwear, workout pics, and sexy outfits, including women’s clothes. McNally’s comments often include heart and fire emojis and supportive compliments.
One specific post, which shows a closeup of Franklyn’s butt with his underwear pulled tight, McNally commented on saying, “Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!”
While McNally calls the man Finn, WKRN News 2 in Tennessee interviewed him and identified him as Franklyn. He says that McNally followed him in 2020 and has sent compliments by direct message, but the two have never met in person.
“To me, I’m not a stranger to compliments, so I don’t really read into them because I just think that’s wrong to assume somebody’s hitting on you just because they’re nice to you,” the man told News 2. “He did not say he wanted to date me or have sex or anything like that.”
“I just hope that he knows I love him and LGBTQ+ loves him and would love him even more if he would open his heart and treat everyone else the way he wants to be treated because the way I want to be treated is to be accepted and be able to be myself and not be taken to police,” Franklyn continued.
McNally’s team hasn’t denied that he commented on the posts, and instead have tried to spin the story into just being about an older man who wants to enthusiastically use social media but doesn't quite get it.
“Trying to imply something sinister or inappropriate about a great-grandfather’s use of social media says more about the mind of the left-wing operative making the implication than it does about Randy McNally,” a statement from the lieutenant governor’s office reads. “As anyone in Tennessee politics knows, Lt. Governor McNally is a prolific social media commenter.”
“He takes great pains to view every post he can and frequently posts encouraging things to many of his followers,” the statement continues. “Does he always use the proper emoji at the proper time? Maybe not. But he enjoys interacting with constituents and Tennesseans of all religions, backgrounds, and orientations on social media. He has no intention of stopping.”
None
— (@)
Today, McNally himself commented on the pictures and his replies.
When a reporter asked him to comment on the issue and how long he’s known Franklyn, McNally responded, “oh, a while now.”
“I’m not anti-gay,” he continued. “We pass bills that kind of limit certain things and I think there are safeguards in those bills…”
When the reporters brought the subject back to Franklyn, McNally said that he just likes to comment on social media.
“I try to encourage people on my posts, and I try to support people, and just because he’s gay, I also have friends who are gay, and I have relatives who are gay, and I don’t feel any animosity towards gay people, I think that’s pretty clear.”
Republican Lt. Gov. Vows to Keep Thirsting Over Queer Instagram Nudes
Miles Klee
Thu, March 9, 2023
Miles Klee
Thu, March 9, 2023
tn-lt-gov-randy-mcnally.jpg XGR Special Session - Credit: Mark Humphrey/AP
A person is always wise to remember that Instagram likes and comments are public. But a 79-year-old man who likes what he sees is not always disposed to restrain himself, and it looks as though Tennessee Lt. Governor Randy McNally is one such fellow.
As the Tennessee Holler first reported on Wednesday, McNally has for some time been a devoted fan of Franklyn McClur, a 20-year-old gay man who grew up in Knoxville and aspires to move to Los Angeles to make it in show business. McClur’s Instagram photos and captions are often suggestive in nature; he shows off his body, sometimes posing fully nude, and wears makeup. All pretty standard as far as the app goes. What’s unusual is that McNally has for months used his own verified account to unabashedly compliment McClur’s thirst traps — this while his state moves to criminalize drag shows and gender-affirming care for transgender children as part of the nationwide Republican push for laws targeting the LGBTQ community.
“Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!” McNally wrote, using McClur’s nickname, on a January photo in which the younger man shows off his butt in tight-fitting underwear. In a follow-up comment, he appended heart and flame emojis. Elsewhere, McNally has complimented McClur’s skimpy outfits and told him, “You need to be on dancing with the stars.” On a nude photo which McClur captioned “I Love being naked.. the Garden of Eden, is My Vibe. I Understand God,” McNally replied, “Great picture, Finn! Best wishes for continued health and happiness.”
In some ways, it’s refreshing to see an elderly GOP politician and Catholic in a longstanding heterosexual marriage openly support a queer constituent. What’s more eyebrow-raising about the relationship is that McNally began messaging McClur in 2020, when the aspiring performer was just 17 years old. But McClur, for his part, is appreciative of the comments and doesn’t see them as deliberately flirtatious. He also confirmed that McNally has complimented him in private messages — though the two have never met. “I just thought he was older and out of touch,” he told the Tennessee Holler. “I’ve always taken it as a compliment. I don’t dislike him or think he’s a bad person, he’s one of the only people who has consistently uplifted me and made me feel good.”
That said, McClur does not support the anti-LGBTQ bills coming out of the state’s legislature and signed into law by Governor Bill Lee. As Lieutenant Governor, McNally has at times raised concerns about such measures — noting that backlash could hurt Tennessee businesses, for example. And of a proposal that would have prevented trans student athletes from competing among their own gender, he cautioned: “Whatever we do will probably be reviewed by the federal government and they can cut funding to the state. It’s an issue I think that we need to move very carefully.”
If McNally has not gone so far as to condemn these bills as hateful and discriminatory, he is nonetheless strongly advocating for his right to admire the body of a man nearly six decades his junior. In a statement to press, his communications director scoffed at attempts to “imply something sinister or inappropriate about a great-grandfather’s use of social media.”
“As anyone in Tennessee politics knows, Lt. Governor McNally is a prolific social media commenter,” the statement continued. “He takes great pains to view every post he can and frequently posts encouraging things to many of his followers. Does he always use the proper emoji at the proper time? Maybe not. But he enjoys interacting with constituents and Tennesseans of all religions, backgrounds and orientations on social media. He has no intention of stopping.”
While the stirring defense of being horny on main is appreciated, this might have been a missed opportunity for McNally to more forcefully criticize the wave of legislation poised to harm people like McClur and the trans individuals he also follows and engages with. Speaking of McNally’s affection toward him, McClur told the Daily Beast, “I hope he can extend that kindness by trying to make sure no bills are passed to hurt anyone like me.”
Really, it’s the least he can do after all the joy McClur has brought him.
GOP Lt. Gov Explains Liking Gay Nudes: ‘I Try to Encourage People’
Ryan Bort
Fri, March 10, 2023
Randy McNally - Credit: Mark Humphrey/AP Images
Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally has a strange habit for a powerful Republican in a state where the party has not been kind to the LGBTQ community. He simply cannot stop liking and commenting on a 20-year-old gay male model’s Instagram posts.
The Tennessee Holler reported on Wednesday that McNally has repeatedly interacted with the Instagram page of Franklyn McClur, who grew up in Knoxville and routinely posts provocative images of himself, often nude. “Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!” McNally commented on a close-up shot of McClur’s backside in form-fitting underwear
McNally is not hiding from the story. His office released a statement emphasizing that the lieutenant governor loves social media and takes “great pains to view every post he can” and that “he has no intention of stopping.” McNally even sat down for an interview with Nashville’s NewsChannel5 on Thursday.
“I try to encourage people with posts and try to, you know, help them if I can,” McNally explained. “I was basically trying to encourage him.”
McNally was then asked about McClur characterizing himself as “not a WHORE” but “a HOE” because “one is a SLUT and the other is a PROSTITUTE” and that he’s “the one who gets free weed for giving [a reference to a sexual act].”
“A lot of times on people’s posts you see the name and you see what they’ve written and you press the button that says like,” McNally explained.
“So you didn’t read that post?”
“I don’t recall reading the part about the weed, I know that.”
“But what about the prostitute?”
“I might have read that.”
McNally acknowledged that it was “probably not” appropriate to like that particular post.
The lieutenant governor’s infatuation with McClur isn’t new. He started messaging him back in 2020, when McClur was only 17. McNally insisted in the interview on Thursday that he’s never met McClur in person, although he has met some LGBTQ people who have helped his change his mind about the community. “Initially I was not very kind to that community,” he said. “As I learned some things and met some people in that community I realized they’re still individuals and still have value.”
McClur doesn’t seem too concerned about the uproar around his social media behavior and seems pretty resigned to whatever the state’s Senate — which has the power to remove the lieutenant governor from office — wants to do about the situation. He did apologize, though. “I’m really, really sorry if I’ve embarrassed my family, embarrassed my friends, embarrassed any of the members of the legislature with the posts,” he said. “It was not my intent to, and not my intent to hurt them.”
Ryan Bort
Fri, March 10, 2023
Randy McNally - Credit: Mark Humphrey/AP Images
Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally has a strange habit for a powerful Republican in a state where the party has not been kind to the LGBTQ community. He simply cannot stop liking and commenting on a 20-year-old gay male model’s Instagram posts.
The Tennessee Holler reported on Wednesday that McNally has repeatedly interacted with the Instagram page of Franklyn McClur, who grew up in Knoxville and routinely posts provocative images of himself, often nude. “Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!” McNally commented on a close-up shot of McClur’s backside in form-fitting underwear
McNally is not hiding from the story. His office released a statement emphasizing that the lieutenant governor loves social media and takes “great pains to view every post he can” and that “he has no intention of stopping.” McNally even sat down for an interview with Nashville’s NewsChannel5 on Thursday.
“I try to encourage people with posts and try to, you know, help them if I can,” McNally explained. “I was basically trying to encourage him.”
McNally was then asked about McClur characterizing himself as “not a WHORE” but “a HOE” because “one is a SLUT and the other is a PROSTITUTE” and that he’s “the one who gets free weed for giving [a reference to a sexual act].”
“A lot of times on people’s posts you see the name and you see what they’ve written and you press the button that says like,” McNally explained.
“So you didn’t read that post?”
“I don’t recall reading the part about the weed, I know that.”
“But what about the prostitute?”
“I might have read that.”
McNally acknowledged that it was “probably not” appropriate to like that particular post.
The lieutenant governor’s infatuation with McClur isn’t new. He started messaging him back in 2020, when McClur was only 17. McNally insisted in the interview on Thursday that he’s never met McClur in person, although he has met some LGBTQ people who have helped his change his mind about the community. “Initially I was not very kind to that community,” he said. “As I learned some things and met some people in that community I realized they’re still individuals and still have value.”
McClur doesn’t seem too concerned about the uproar around his social media behavior and seems pretty resigned to whatever the state’s Senate — which has the power to remove the lieutenant governor from office — wants to do about the situation. He did apologize, though. “I’m really, really sorry if I’ve embarrassed my family, embarrassed my friends, embarrassed any of the members of the legislature with the posts,” he said. “It was not my intent to, and not my intent to hurt them.”
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