Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey got dragged online Monday after posting a tribute to immigrant crop pickers that many viewers thought was more than a little strange.
Booker, a 2020 also-ran, reposted a video on X that showed eight apparently illegal farm workers picking what appeared to be asparagus.
Their names — Juan, Armando, Alonso, Liborio, Oscar, Roman, Reyes, and Abraham — were shown onscreen.
All of them were listed as “crop pickers.” Each one was also shown briefly raising his hands to his chest in slow motion.
The kicker?
The video played over the backdrop of “In This Shirt,” a melancholy song by The Irrepressibles about the memory of a failed gay relationship.
The hands that feed us.
We see you.
We will fight to protect you.
op: shayfarmkid (via IG) pic.twitter.com/lQNwMZwtRZ
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) July 21, 2025
The lyrics reference a man who traveled the world while wearing the shirt of a man who left him.
Booker captioned the post, “The hands that feed us. We see you. We will fight to protect you.”
That didn’t go over well with people who don’t think illegal labor should be romanticized, let alone set to a ballad about lost love.
One user responded, “Are you protecting illegal slavery?”
Are you protecting illegal slavery?
— Xi Van Fleet (@XVanFleet) July 21, 2025
Curtis Houck fired off, “Mannnn you’re really embracing your party’s forefathers who launched a Civil War because they were worried about who would pick their cotton, wash their bedsheets, and cook their meals.”
Mannnn you're really embracing your party's forefathers who launched a Civil War because they were worried about who would pick their cotton, wash their bedsheets, and cook their meals
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 22, 2025
Tomi Lahren piled on, writing, “You see cheap labor future voters when you look at these people. Sick!”
You see cheap labor future voters when you look at these people. Sick!
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) July 21, 2025
Others also laid into Booker:
— Chris Hardman ⚡️ Sauna King (@chhardman) July 21, 2025
If Democrats can't understand why they have a 20% approval rating after this, they are beyond gone. https://t.co/NOqRne3Tmx
— Vunks (@Vunks) July 22, 2025
https://t.co/MPGv7QBu4P pic.twitter.com/lN27A345FF
— Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) July 21, 2025
The whole thing is eerily similar to Kelly Osbourne’s infamous “toilet” comment from “The View.”
Back in 2015, Osbourne attempted to criticize then-candidate Donald Trump but ended up asking, “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?”
Kelly Osborne accurately representing every liberal who argues in favor of illegal immigration.
“If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet Donald Trump?”
Democrats made similar arguments for their cheap imported labor in 1865. pic.twitter.com/rP0svwVFwD
— SovereignMind???????? (@1776v1984) November 29, 2024
Booker’s post gave off the same vibe — but with an orchestra. The clip was cringe at best, as the Gen Z crowd might say.
At worst, it was a love letter to exploited labor wrapped in rainbow-tinted virtue signaling.
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