Singh confronts 'homophobic' heckler at event in Newfoundland

Warning: This story contains graphic language. 

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was quick to clap back at a drive-by heckler on Tuesday, inviting the man to "have a conversation" with him instead of shouting expletives out of his car window.

Singh was speaking outside of a Dominion grocery store in St. John's, N.L., about high food prices when a man in a black car pulled up next to him in the parking lot shouting an expletive of a sexual nature about Singh and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"If you're homophobic, you know, keep it to yourself. Your homophobia is very inappropriate," Singh says as he turned to look at the driver.

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The man then yells "you're a piece of shit," as Singh says: "You're driving away… I'm right here, we can have a conversation if you'd like."

At this point, the heckler pulls away and Singh carries on with his press conference, jumping back into talking about the cost of groceries without skipping a beat.

As the media availability continued, Singh was asked by a reporter what he made of the exchange and how he deals with situations like this. Singh said he’s always open to having conversations with people who have concerns, but "someone driving by and yelling something is obviously not interested in having a conversation."

The NDP leader said it’s possible that the man was dealing with something in his own life that he was expressing "in a way that's not really effective or helpful," and said overall the people he’s met in Newfoundland and Labrador have been "very warm."

"So, a one-off of someone yelling something is not something that’s going to disturb me," Singh said. "I'm worried though about the climate where people are not willing to have a conversation, but are so upset that they want to just yell and scream. Where there's legitimate frustrations with the cost of living, with the cost of rent, the cost of a mortgage, I want to acknowledge that the anger is real and important. Someone driving by and yelling something… is a separate matter."

This interaction is not the first time the NDP leader has confronted people who have interrupted his events or verbally harassed him in public. In 2017 while campaigning for the party's top job in Brampton, Ont., Singh made headlines for shutting down a visibly angry woman who clapped in his face by responding with "love and courage."

And an event in Peterborough, Ont. in 2022 put a renewed spotlight on politicians' security after Singh received a barrage of insults and expletives from several protesters who accused him of being a "traitor." At the time Singh remarked that he was witnessing a level of anger he hasn't seen before.

You can watch the entire exchange in the video clip at the top of this article.