Controversy stirred a Georgia Senate contest on Monday, when Democrat Jon Ossoff accused incumbent GOP Sen. David Perdue of knowingly putting out an anti-Semitic ad on Facebook. The ad, which was created by an outsourced group, showed Ossoff’s nose being enlarged.
Sitting U.S. Senator David Perdue's digital attack ad distorted my face to enlarge and extend my nose.
— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) July 28, 2020
I'm Jewish.
This is the oldest, most obvious, least original anti-Semitic trope in history.
Senator, literally no one believes your excuses.https://t.co/PiA7P4O4M2
Since Sen. Perdue’s campaign outsourced to a creative vendor for the ad, the Georgia Republican obviously did not see the video himself, and upon noticing, the campaign immediately revoked the ad off of Facebook. Sen. Perdue’s campaign called the ad’s representation of Ossoff an “unintentional error”:
“In the graphic design process handled by an outside vendor, the photo was resized and a filter was applied, which appears to have caused an unintentional error that distorted the image. Obviously, this was accidental, but to ensure there is absolutely no confusion, we have immediately removed the image from Facebook,” said Perdue for Senate spokesperson John Burke. “Anybody who implies that this was anything other than an inadvertent error is intentionally misrepresenting Senator Perdue’s strong and consistent record of standing firmly against antisemitism and all forms of hate.”
Sen. Perdue’s record in the upper chamber only supports the notion that he did not sign off on this outsourced social media ad. In his tenure in the Senate, he co-sponsored multiple pieces of legislation condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of religious discrimination; Sen. Perdue co-sponsored SR189, which condemned anti-Semitism in all forms, and the bipartisan Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, which established lynching as a criminal civil rights violation.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), a prominent interest group that works to liaise between the American Jewish community and Republican lawmakers, stood by Sen. Perdue and his commitment to combating anti-Semitism, that is exemplified by his record:
toward our community and has worked with national security leaders to protect synagogues and Jewish community centers from anti-Semitic threats and violence. Senator Perdue has made it clear that he strongly supports the right of all people to live free of anti-Semitism and hate
— RJC (@RJC) July 28, 2020
Senator David Perdue to be one of the most decent individuals I have known. He is what my grandmother would call a “mensch”- a person of honor and high integrity. Any attempts to smear him with charges of anti-Semitism are simply false.”
— RJC (@RJC) July 28, 2020
The Georgia Republican’s record speaks for itself; it is clear that Sen. Perdue had no knowledge of the content of the ad. The flagrant content of the ad was clearly unintentional, and Sen. Perdue’s campaign handled it swiftly and transparently.
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