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Illinois governor downs Jell-O shot thrown by reveler at Pride parade

Bottoms up!
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Governor Pritzker holds an empty cup and gives a thumbs up after catching and drinking a Jell-O shot with one hand at the Chicago Pride Parade.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker holds an empty cup and gives a thumbs up after catching and drinking a Jell-O shot with one hand at the Chicago Pride Parade. Photo: Vashon Jordan Jr.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) got into the Pride spirit this year, partying with the community on the parade route.

At one point, Pritzker caught a Jell-O shot thrown by a reveler one-handed and quickly gulped it down before hoisting the cup in the air as the crowd roared.

Related:

Illinois’s new gov. protected trans students on the day of Chicago’s Pride parade

“Ending the intolerable levels of discrimination and violence against our transgender community starts here: in our schools.”

Before the parade started, Pritzker hosted a VIP event with his wife and political officials, where he quipped about GOP trolls’ attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, “All I have to say is more glitter, less Twitter.” His wife, Mary Kathryn Muenster, wore a top with the phrase on it during the parade.

The governor’s chief-of-staff confirmed that he downed the Jell-O shot and also sent out a photo plus a wry statement, “Can confirm. Caught it one-handed during the Pride Parade and downed it on the parade route.”

A long-standing ally, earlier this month Pritzker signed a bill into law that made it illegal to ban books. The law came in opposition to Republican attempts to defund libraries and yank books from schools because they featured LGBTQ+ characters or themes or challenge systemic racism.

It says libraries will lose their funding if they remove books from the shelf based on someone’s personal or partisan disapproval.

“Here in Illinois, we don’t hide from the truth, we embrace it,” said Pritzker in a statement. “Young people shouldn’t be kept from learning about the realities of our world; I want them to become critical thinkers, exposed to ideas that they disagree with, proud of what our nation has overcome, and thoughtful about what comes next.”

“Everyone deserves to see themselves reflected in the books they read, the art they see, the history they learn. In Illinois, we are showing the nation what it really looks like to stand up for liberty.”

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