Mike Johnson’s Cringey Hand Signal on Live TV Has Fans Convinced He’s Trying Too Hard to ‘Look Like a Frat Bro’
House Speaker Mike Johnson made a sly attempt to appear cooler than he truly is during a live interview, and the moment horribly backfired instantly.
Johnson, 53, and his wife, Kelly Johnson, joined for a sit-down with Katie Miller, the wife of controversial White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
During their 52-minute conversation on the latest episode of “The Katie Miller Podcast, Johnson was asked about a popular artist who transitioned into country music after years doing rap and rock when he made strange motions with his hands on camera.
“What’s been the best event or thing you’ve attended where you were like, ‘That is so cool. I cannot believe I have this job?’” Miller, 34, asked the right-wing politician about 20 minutes into the interview.
Johnson responded, “Well, the UFC fight was pretty awesome because we were there with Kid Rock and Jelly Roll and Elon [Musk].” Miller jumped in to ask, “You know who Jelly Roll is?”
“Do I know?” Johnson stated before awkwardly throwing up a Hawaiian “shaka” (or “hang loose”) sign with both hands. He continued, “Yes. We have selfies together. There’s one hanging in my office.”
After getting a close up of his hands, one social media user on Threads wrote, “He gives me the yucks.”
“He should never do that with his hands again,” advised a second person on the app. That led to someone questioning conservatives in general by wondering, “Why are they so awkward and weird at absolutely everything?”
One reply suggested, “Because they’re trying to pretend to be human.” In addition, another outspoken Republican critic posted, “Every day it’s more ick from these people.”
X also featured numerous potshots at Johnson’s ungraceful stab at trying to mimic youngsters. One tweet read, “53-year-old Mike Johnson trying to look like a ‘Frat Bro’ here, just comes across as awkward.”
Likewise, the House speaker caught heat when an X user voiced, “Mike Johnson trying to connect with the young people. This is where your kids crawl under the table out of sheer embarrassment.”
Despite coming off as cringy to his online detractors, Johnson did get to hang out with country singer Jelly Roll, rock singer Kid Rock, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and MAGA frontman Donald Trump at the UFC 309 fight at Madison Square Garden in November 2024.
Johnson shared photographs with the chart-topping musicians and the billionaire businessmen on his X account. He also uploaded images with Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Robert Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Vivek Ramaswamy were also seen posing with Johnson inside the World’s Most Famous Arena at the mixed martial arts sporting event. UFC president Dana White snapped a picture alongside RFK Jr. and then-president-elect Trump as well.
“UFC at MSG was epic!” Johnson captioned his photo dump featuring the MAGA movement standouts, which collected over 64,000 likes and 4 million views on the Musk-owned social networking platform.
Trump had just gotten re-elected to his second, nonconsecutive term as President of the United States just 11 days before UFC 309. The New York City native defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 general election on Nov 5.
Johnson took over the role of speaker of the House in October 2023 following the contentious removal of his Republican colleague Kevin McCarthy. He was reelected to the speakership in January 2025, thanks in part to an endorsement from Trump.
The Louisiana congressman and his wife’s appearance on “The Katie Miller Podcast” included them discussing how they deal with media scrutiny, disagreements in their marriage, their Christian faith, and other personal topics.
Kevin and Kelly first met while he was pursuing a law degree at Louisiana State University before graduating from the institution in 1998. They married in May 1999. The couple has four biological children and an “adopted” Black son.
