Pete Buttigieg Mocks DeSantis Ad for Using ‘Shirtless Oiled Up Body Builders’ to Prove ‘Manhood’: ‘Who Are You Trying to Help?’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was left confused by an ad from Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign that spliced the Florida governor in between pictures of shirtless men while trying to paint Donald Trump as more LGBTQ-friendly.

The ad, put out on the last day of Pride Month, was posted to Twitter by the DeSantis War Room account, and immediately received backlash including from many Republicans.

The ad highlights Trump's relationship with transgender athlete Caitlyn Jenner, and then celebrates anti-trans legislation from DeSantis while throwing in seemingly random images of shirtless men and male characters from movies like "Troy" and "American Psycho."

Appearing on CNN on Sunday, Buttigieg was asked for his response as one of the most high-profile gay officials in the Biden administration.

"I'm going to choose my words carefully, partly because I'm appearing as secretary, so I can't talk about campaigns and I'm going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that splices images of you in between oiled-up shirtless bodybuilders," he said.

Buttigieg went on:

"Who are you trying to help? Who are you trying to make better off and what public policies do you get up in the morning thinking about how to solve?"

Buttigieg's husband, Chasten, previously declared the ad "actually very gay."