Brian Maschino
Audio By Carbonatix
Dallas political leaders give us lots of reasons to criticize and call out their policies and pratfalls, but once in a while, one of our local public officials might do something that’s just too darn cute. That’s when you just gotta put politics aside for a nanosecond and drink up the sweet, viral Kool-Aid before things inevitably go south again.
This time it happened with Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who attended last weekend’s Dallas Open men’s tennis tournament and, apparently, China’s Yibing Wu wasn’t the only person on the court who caught everyone’s attention during the finals.
Someone in the stands caught Johnson drumming away on a set of air drums with his oldest son William. The air-jam session took place between matches on Sunday at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at Southern Methodist University.
The two are seen in the video sitting courtside waiting for the next match to start when Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love” pours out of the complex’s sound system. Jason Marshall, a former tennis pro who heads up Georgia State University’s women’s tennis program, looks down from the stands and catches the mayor drumming hard like he’s Alex Van Halen next to William, who starts pounding the invisible skins. The two end the session with a high-five up top.
The honorable Dallas Mayor Johnson playing the air drums with his son at the Dallas Open finals! That’s awesome. @Johnson4Dallas @DALOpenTennis pic.twitter.com/7iirl227FU
— Jason Marshall (@JMarshallGSU) February 12, 2023
Marshall posted the video to his Twitter page where it’s been viewed over 10,000 times in just under 24 hours.
Johnson’s viral moment in the sun is almost the polar opposite of his previous run-in with sports fans on social media. Last month, Johnson sent out a tweet praising the Philadelphia Eagles, who had just landed their spot in Super Bowl LVII – only to lose by a measly three points to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
“The Eagles truly belong to the City of Philadelphia and vice versa,” Johnson tweeted. “And that’s pretty damn cool. The City of Dallas deserves to know what this kind of mutual love feels like.”
Of course, that didn’t sit too well with Dallas Cowboys fans who just had their dreams shattered for the umpteenth time when their team lost to the San Francisco 49ers, snatching away their chance at another NFC championship appearance. It also didn’t help that the team Johnson praised is one of their top rivals.
“Vote this man out!” @Romoisthegoat wrote. “F*** the birds! The city of Philly can rot in hell!”
“Seems like someone is the mayor of the wrong city,” wrote @kcorley1313 followed by a short series of Colbert Face emojis.
Some even suggested Johnson is not the kind of person who likes to back down from a meaningless tweet, so he clapped back to his retractors in kind of a confusing way.
“What makes y’all think the answer to the City of Dallas’ lack of pro football is the Dallas Cowboys? I’m fine with the Dallas Cowboys staying where they are,” Johnson replied. “This tweet, which doesn’t even mention the Dallas Cowboys, has proven itself to be quite the Rorschach test.”
But Mayor Johnson’s musical takes have been far more popular. In September 2021, he tweeted that “Yacht rock is the official music of the Dallas City Council.” And we weren’t mad about it.
