23:22

During the debate, Pete Buttigieg condemned the “revolutionary politics of the 1960s”, in an implicit dig at Bernie Sanders.

The former Indiana mayor also tweeted and then deleted a tweet in which he said the US “can’t afford a scenario where it comes down to Donald Trump with his nostalgia for the social order of the 1950’s and Bernie Sanders with his nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960’s.” Buttigieg repeated the line again when he spoke to reporters in the debate spin room.

But the “revolutionary politics” of the 60s include the civil rights movement and the Stonewall riots. In South Carolina, during Black history month, the comments came off as tone deaf.

Gillian Branstetter (@GBBranstetter) Hearing the first gay presidential candidate condemn the "revolutionary politics of the 1960s" is uhhhhhhh something pic.twitter.com/YdouVzxq4M

The Sanders campaign picked up on Buttigieg’s point, as well. Nina Turner, a top Sanders surrogate, addressed the former South Bend mayor in a tweet: “Check your history!”

Nina Turner (@ninaturner) Hey @PeteButtigieg, the revolutionary politics of the 1960s brought us the civil rights movement! Check your history!#DemDebate

Buttigieg has previously been criticized by LBGTQ+ activists. As The Guardian’s Vivian Ho reported earlier this month, “Buttigieg may be the first openly gay candidate to sweep the national stage and perform as well as he has in Iowa and New Hampshire, but more and more young queer voters say they feel he is not representative of them or their experiences.”