Rep. Don Young (R-AK) on Friday got into a tense exchange with a constituent whose nephew took his own life, right after the congressman personally apologized for a spate of controversial remarks he made on suicide.
Gloria Poullard approached Young to ask him about a profane speech he gave last week at Wasilla High School, in which the congressman offended students by arguing that suicide was caused by a lack of support from friends and family.
“You know, it really put a hamper on my faith in you because my elders voted for you, and this is my state, I’m an Alaska native,” Poullard said to Young, according to video of the exchange from local TV station KTUU. “How do you feel within yourself, what possessed you to even make a comment like that? My nephew just committed suicide.”
Young shushed her and shook her hand, to which Poullard responded “You don’t tell me to shush.”
“Hey, I lost a nephew,” he said. “I know what it feels like and I gotta ask myself, did I support him enough? Did I? I don’t know.”
“Don’t you get angry with me, don’t even squeeze my hand,” Poullard said. Young then released her hand and walked away.
Before Poullard confronted him, Young gave his first personal apology for his blunt comments on suicide.
“Again, I am profoundly sorry for those that took offense at what I tried to say because they did not and will not take time to understand we have to stop this tragic from occurring again,” Young said at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage, as quoted by the Alaska Dispatch News.
The congressman explained that the suicide of a family member “may have caused me to mangle some of my statements and comments.” He did not respond to reporters’ questions about the nephew who took his own life, according to the Dispatch News.
Watch Poullard confront Young below:
