An artist and onetime LGBT talk-show host in San Francisco, Tim Gaskin, has popped up in a video that's gone viral after he was heard spewing a homophobic epithet and other angry words at a store employee in the South Bay over a demand that he wear a face mask.
Gaskin, 52, is a third-generation San Franciscan who was once known in SF circles for hobnobbing with then Mayor Gavin Newsom and first wife Kimberly Guilfoyle, for co-founding the local LGBT magazine Gloss and later Benefit, and for a basic cable show he hosted in the early 2000s called "OUT Spoken." He was also named to Newsom's newly formed San Francisco Arts Task Force.
According to his LinkedIn, he's pivoted in recent years into working in importing red meat — something that this outdated online bio suggests he worked in as a young man.
As KPIX notes, Gaskin became known around 2004 as a "somewhat successful painter" who was invited to paint a heart for the "Hearts in San Francisco" project — his heart, shown here on SFGate, depicted Guilfoyle as Frida Kahlo and then SF District Attorney Kamala Harris as Billie Holiday on the opposite side. Gaskin was also invited to paint a room at the Hotel Des Arts in Union Square, which also had rooms done by artists Jeremy Fish and Shepard Fairey. Gaskin, who had sold a number of paintings using celebrity images and popular logos in pop-art fashion, caused a stir by painting the Louis Vuitton logo around the room without the company's permission. He called it a commentary on consumerism and celebrity culture.
The video was shot at a Marshalls store in Campbell, where apparently Gaskin was claiming to have a medical condition that prevented him from wearing a mask. He can be heard calling a store employee (or the person wielding the cellphone camera) a "dumb fuckin' fa**ot" — as in "What's your dumb fuckin' fa**ot problem?" And he refers to "Newsom's law" that will cost the employees "$75,000" for forcing him to wear a mask. He says it's a "health code violation to deny service based on someone's disability."
He can also be heard saying, "Dumb Mexican guy here doesn't know because he doesn't speak English." (ABC 7 has also picked up the video, and so has TMZ, and the gay blog JoeMyGod.)
Today at Marshalls in Campbell, Ca this Kevin didn’t want to wear a mask. Hurled offensive comments to the workers, my friends, to customers while exposing gestures to the public. I’m reaching out to y’all in the ether to expose this m’fer to the world! #KarenStrikesAgain #mask pic.twitter.com/ftBkGsDqcW
— Eddie House (@fetcharooskies) August 18, 2020
Following that, the video poster, Eddie House, attempts to get Gaskin to give his name, to which Gaskin replies by saying, "What's your name, boss?" and unzipping his pants as if to expose himself. All the while he is holding a McDonald's soda cup and his tie is askew.
Insult to injury this loser thinks he can tell the world of laws/lies while scting above it all. Lets expose this one. #blm #KarenGoneWild #KarenStrikesAgain pic.twitter.com/NWVvpwM49K
— Eddie House (@fetcharooskies) August 18, 2020
Given Gaskin's relatively high profile in SF over a decade ago, it didn't take long for social media to recognize him — and to point out that he, himself, is gay and shouldn't be slinging gay slurs at store employees.
He has yet to respond to media or comment on the incident, but he has apparently been continuing to post his art — a lot of which lately seems to continue to aggrandize Kamala Harris — on Twitter. A Twitter account with his name and the handle @JockLondon, in use since 2013, has been posting a lot of images in Gaskin's chosen oeuvre — including some Madonna images that look like his work from 16 years ago — for the last several weeks, including the last 24 hours.
Update: As the Bay Area Reporter subsequently reported of the incident, the man shooting the video, Zamora, was cited by police, and Gaskin — who now goes by the name Arthur Master, or Art Master — denied ever exposing himself, further claiming that Zamora was homophobically harassing him, and mocking his clothing, prior to shooting this video. Gaskin said he had a medical condition that prevented him from wearing a mask over his ear. Gaskin called the whole incident, and the viral spreading of the video, "humiliating."
Some examples of recent art:
Kamala. by Art Master, Tim Gaskin - 2018, SANF pic.twitter.com/6S72tdkb51
— timothy gaskin (@JockLondon) July 18, 2020
Kamala”s Dramalas, art master, Tim Gaskin pic.twitter.com/F6KMXBwMzB
— timothy gaskin (@JockLondon) July 28, 2020
JOE-MA-LA 2020, art master, Tim Gaskin pic.twitter.com/Z4KTtbrsRc
— timothy gaskin (@JockLondon) August 7, 2020
Kamala, she’s every American woman. Art master, Tim Gaskin pic.twitter.com/srAYW8dPoH
— timothy gaskin (@JockLondon) August 12, 2020
Ohhh La, Ka-Ma-La
— timothy gaskin (@JockLondon) August 13, 2020
Rah, Rah, Ka-Ma-LA
GaGa, Oh La, Lah
We'll take the White House
art master, Tim Gaskin c. 2019 pic.twitter.com/SeuXAkCYrR
Minnadonna Mouse, in a Louis Vuitton hotel suite, Hollywood CA, c.2004, art Master, Tim Gaskin, SAN Francisco. pic.twitter.com/zyFF79dIKq
— timothy gaskin (@JockLondon) August 17, 2020
Biden caught in a Bad Romance. Art Master, Tim Gaskin pic.twitter.com/uq6AtUOsIG
— timothy gaskin (@JockLondon) August 18, 2020