What did Jacob Frey say about remote work? Minneapolis mayor blasted over "loser" joke

During a speech on Wednesday, February 7, Mayor Jacob Frey made fun of remote work as he praised the advantages of downtown Minneapolis. The incident occurred during the annual meeting of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, where the mayor was speaking.

While elaborating on the virtues of being downtown, he turned his focus to remote employment, claiming that it eventually makes one feel like "a loser."

As per FOX9, a video of the speech was provided, where he was heard saying,

"I don't know if you saw this study the other day, but what this study clearly showed: When people who have the ability to come downtown to an office don't — when they stay home sitting on their couch, with their nasty cat blanket, diddling on their laptop ... if they do that for a few months, you become a loser! We're not losers, are we?"

However, according to FOX9, he then clarified he was simply joking when he claimed that people who work from home are "losers." Once the video of his speech made its way online, netizens on X took to the comment section of the post to express their opinion regarding the same.

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Netizens bash Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey for reportedly calling people who work from home “losers”

Netizens are criticising Jacob Frey for his recent comment (Image via Facebook / Jacob Frey)

On Wednesday, February 7, the mayor apparently tagged everyone who worked from home as a "loser." Nevertheless, he later had to clarify several times that his comment was meant to be humorous.

Due to the corporate trend to remote labor, many office spaces in downtown Minneapolis have remained unused since the outbreak of COVID-19, which has negatively impacted the downtown economy as a result. In the meeting, Mayor Frey therefore encouraged people to return to the downtown area.

As per sources like FOX9, in the official video, he shared how, according to a study, if someone with the means to commute to an office in the city doesn't do so, and instead stays at home, curled up on the couch as they work on their laptop, that person is likely to become a failure.

However, he soon explained his point further, saying,

"It was so obviously a joke. It's a study that doesn't exist about people that don't exist in that nonexistent study".

The Minneapolis mayor then continued:

"Right now, crime downtown is down. That is something you can talk about not just at your tables, but also when you're talking to someone when you're over in the North Loop or out in the suburbs. That is part of what creates the right perception."

Jacob Frey finally concluded:

"We're winners, we're resilient, we're tough, we're strong, we're innovative. We rise to the challenge, we get knocked down seven times, and we get back up eight. That is who we are as a city."

Meanwhile, once the video of the entire speech was uploaded to X by user Conrad Zbikowski, netizens took to the comment section of the video to slam Frey and make fun of him.

The audience also laughed at the mayor's comments about remote work. A mayor's spokesperson further confirmed that Frey was joking, and the study he referred to wasn't real, when FOX 9 requested more information about the same.