San Francisco Giants co-owner Charles Johnson is now trying whitesplain his support of a super-PAC which ran a terribly offensive radio ad during a tight congressional race in Arkansas.
The ad, which ran in support of Republican Rep. French Hill in his race against Clarke Tucker, a Democrat, is so bad that even the candidates themselves have disassociated themselves from it.
As reported by The Root writer Monique Judge:
The ad is egregiously racist in tenor, tone and message. It features the voices of who we are to assume are two black women who sound strangely like Diamond and Silk—the sock puppet black women Trump supporters trotted out to make us think black people actually really like Trump.
Black Americans for the President’s Agenda won’t pull the ad; and USA Today reports that Johnson donated $1,000 to the PAC on July 23 of this year.
Using the already painful-to-women bulldozing of accused sexual assaulter Brett Kavanaugh through to the Supreme Court, the ad would almost be funny if it weren’t so appallingly insulting to black women, in particular. One of the women uses the racist criminality of the U.S. criminal justice system against black Americans to support a Southern Republican.
“What will happen to our husbands, our fathers or our sons when white girls lie on them?,” one woman says in the audio drop.
“White Democrats will be lynching black folk again,” says the other.
Johnson released a statement Friday denying any specific knowledge of the advertisement.
“I had absolutely no knowledge that this donation would be used in this manner and I, like the Giants organization, strongly condemn any form of racism and in no way condone the advertisement that was created by this entity,” the statement said.
USA Today reports that billionaire Johnson is a longtime Republican donor and gave millions to PACs supporting both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
The Giants also released a statement:
The Giants’ reputation as one of the most inclusive and socially engaged professional sports teams in the nation speaks for itself. We are unaware of Mr. Johnson’s political donations because they are entirely separate from his stake in the Giants ownership group. In no way do the Giants condone this disturbing and divisive political activity.
But even if Johnson had no idea about the racism of this particular ad, he has wholeheartedly supported Republicans, and so the old adage applies: Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.