Fetterman’s Kids Love the Walter White Jokes About Their Dad
Who knew they were such Breaking Bad fans? Plus, some local Wawas are getting expensive upgrades.
On the left, United States Senator John Fetterman sporting his new Walter White mustache. (Photo courtesy John Fetterman) On the right, the “real” Walter White from Breaking Bad. (Photo courtesy AMC)
Check phillymag.com each morning Monday through Friday for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking Philly Mag reporters, please direct it here. You can also use that form to send us reader mail. We love reader mail!
John Fetterman’s Kids Love the Walter White Jokes About Their Dad’s New Mustache
United States Senator John Fetterman has been the butt of a ton of jokes since he entered the national spotlight in 2021. Some of those jokes have been downright cruel. And, as Gisele Fetterman told us in this January interview, she was doing her best to shelter their kids from the mean, mean world of U.S. politics. But the kids are having a good time with the latest round of jokes.
On social media over the weekend, Fetterman debuted a new look. Out is his signature gray goatee. In is a very familiar-looking mustache. Is it 1970s adult movie star? No, that’s not it. Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy? No, but getting closer … Ah yes, that’s it! Walter White, Bryan Cranston’s meth-cooking character from the hit AMC series Breaking Bad.
Social media observers and John Fetterman critics were quick to pick up on the fact that the senator suddenly bears a strong resemblance to the murderous, misanthropic, and downright nefarious Walter White, a guy my own teenage daughter refers to simply as “the worst.” The New York Post couldn’t resist taking note of all of this, calling Fetterman “unrecognizable.”
So why on earth would Fetterman shave his goatee, one he’s been sporting forever? Turns out that this is what happens when you agree to chess with your kids. According to Gisele Fetterman, John played his teenage son Karl in a game of chess and lost. And the bet was that if Karl won, John would shave the beard. And so …
Gisele says her children think all the Breaking Bad jokes are the funniest thing ever. “My kids are huge Breaking Bad fans,” she explains. Gisele submitted as evidence to me a homework assignment from a while back that was handed in by her daughter:
(photo courtesy Gisele Fetterman)
As for the goatee, John, gotta say I’m not sorry to see it go. Now if we can just do something about those shorts and sweatshirts.
Not Again …
A South Jersey wildfire has now spread to 200 acres. If it seems to you like they get a lot of wildfires in those parts, it’s because they do. We’re up to 13 so far this year. And summer still has a month to go.
Wawa Gets All 21st Century
The soft pretzels and meatball sandwiches may have gone way downhill in recent years, but hey, at least you’ll be able to charge up your electric vehicles at some Wawas soon. Thanks to some new federal funding, you’ll be seeing EV charging stations at nine Wawa locations in the region. That’s all well and good. But I couldn’t help but notice that archenemy Sheetz is getting EV chargers at 12 locations.
Some of the Wawas in question are outside of the Greater Philadelphia Area. The Wawas in our area getting the chargers include one in Bristol just off Exit 42 of I-95, one in Horsham just off Exit 343 of I-276, one just off Exit 27 of I-95 in Philadelphia, one in Lansdale just off Exit 31 of I-476, and another in Woodlyn, just off Exit 1 of I-476.
Local Talent
The LA Times has an interesting piece on Philly gal Quinta Brunson and the fate of network TV. In a year where Abbott Elementary is the only broadcast series (as opposed to cable or streaming series) and its actors the only actors in a broadcast series to receive Emmy nominations, the Times asks: “Can Quinta Brunson save broadcast TV? Does she want to?”
In other Philly expat news, Amazon just announced that its streaming service is not moving forward with a previously ordered second season for A League of Their Own, created by and starring the Main Line-raised comedian and actress Abbi Jacobson. Amazon blamed the cancelation on production delays that are the result of the Hollywood strikes. But Jacobson says not so fast.
“To blame this cancellation on the strike, (which is an essential fight for fair wages, protections and working conditions, etc. …is bullshit and cowardly,” she wrote on Instagram.
By the Numbers
2: Raccoons that have been terrorizing two local graduate students in their North Philly apartment. Believe me, as somebody who grew up in the woods, it only takes one raccoon inside a house to terrorize people. Two is just evil.
3 to 12 months: Sentence a Philly woman just received for a wrong-way DUI crash on I-76. Nothing notable about that, right? Well, this particular woman recently received a $300,000 settlement from the city after she accused police of making a false arrest in a road rage incident involving her and an assistant district attorney, who accused her of trying to run them off the road. Action News had investigated the woman, who also had a previous DUI case and another crash. Point being: Once she gets out of jail, stay off the road!
1: Number of commercial firearms businesses in Lower Merion Township. And local politicians are doing what they can to make sure there aren’t a bunch more popping up.
