Geraldo Rivera turned some heads during a Friday appearance on Fox & Friends when he described South Bend, Indiana’s openly-gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s ideas as “flamboyant.”

“I think Beto [O’Rourke] is finished,” Rivera said while running through a list of candidates. “I think Mayor Pete dusted him off. If you wanted to go that way, if you wanted to go with the young buckaroo with flamboyant ideas and an aggressive point of view, maybe you go with Mayor Pete who has demonstrated success in South Bend.”

Geraldo Rivera: "If you wanted to go with the young buckaroo with the flamboyant ideas and an aggressive point of view, maybe you go with Mayor Pete" pic.twitter.com/xwsguWrhAw

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) April 26, 2019

Viewers on Twitter thought Rivera’s use of “flamboyant” to describe the openly gay candidate was a “dog whistle.”

"flamboyant" ideas from the gay candidate, eh geraldo? pic.twitter.com/BhvOVZVxDb

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) April 26, 2019

Ah, so 'flamboyant' is being taken out of the dog-whistle cupboard and dusted down.

— Marlapropism (@marlapropism) April 26, 2019

Not as flamboyant as that weasel’s nest under your nose, Geraldo.
You use the word “flamboyant” as an insult from a long dead era.
Your dog whistle doesn’t work the way it used to @GeraldoRivera
Please retire to Al Capone’s vault and lock it behind you.

— PitchBlack1138 (@twpitchblack) April 26, 2019

@GeraldoRivera – you say @PeteButtigieg is “flamboyant? Dog whistle? Homophobic?

— PatsyBurns (@SweetPeaPatsy) April 26, 2019