Perdue Still Hasn’t Apologized For “Racist Jab” at Senator Harris’ Name

Senator David Perdue is under fire after “resort[ing] to cheap, racist jokes about Sen. Kamala Harris’s name while warming up the crowd at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally Friday evening.” Perdue, who has served in the Senate alongside Vice Presidential nominee and Senator Kamala Harris since 2017, refused to apologize and maintains it was not on purpose – an excuse no one believes. 

It’s not the first time Perdue has resorted to bigoted attacks in an attempt to echo Trump’s divisive rhetoric as he desperately tries to save his losing reelection bid –– just this summer, Perdue’s campaign was caught running an anti-Semitic Facebook ad against opponent Jon Ossoff. Perdue has not apologized for either one of his vile attacks and instead has doubled down in defense.   

Perdue’s performance dominated local and national coverage. Check out what Georgia voters are reading and seeing about the vulnerable incumbent’s reprehensible actions amid his flailing campaign: 

WATCH Good Morning America: “The battle for the White House has already shaped up to be a bitter and ugly fight. Senator David Perdue under fire for these comments he made about his colleague and Biden’s running mate Senator Kamala Harris at the President’s rally in Georgia….Harris’ spokesperson firing back, calling the remarks, ‘incredibly racist.’” 

WATCH: FOX5 Atlanta: “The Presidential visit was nearly overshadowed by remarks made by Georgia senator David Perdue.”

WATCH: WFXL Albany: “Georgia Senator David Perdue is facing major backlash after purposely mispronouncing Senate colleague Kamala Harris’ name. It happened earlier ahead of President Trump’s rally in Macon tonight.”

WATCH: 11Alive: “Senator David Perdue now taking heat tonight for comments before President Trump’s rally in Macon. In a brief speech Senator Perdue seemed to intentionally mispronounce California Senator Kamala Harris’ name.”

WATCH: CNN: Sen. David Perdue willfully mispronounces Kamala Harris’ name at Trump rally: “Does this break through, what happened in terms of what Trump’s warmup act is – Senator Perdue, despite serving with Senator Kamala Harris for three years, thought this was something the crowd would like.” 

WATCH: MSNBC: Jon Ossoff calls on Perdue to apologize for mocking Senator Harris’ name: “This kind of vile, race baiting, trash talk is what President Trump has unleashed from sitting Republican members of the Senate. I mean to mock his colleague’s name in that way, to show such disrespect for the Indian-American community here in Georgia, for Black women, to show that kind of open bigotry. But this is who Senator David Perdue, my opponent, has revealed himself to be.”

WATCH: WSAV-TV: “Making headlines: Senator David Perdue is being accused of intentionally messing up the name of Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris. It happened at a rally for President Trump in Macon Friday night…Perdue’s Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff and others call it a racist tactic.”

WATCH: MSNBC: “Come on, I mean no one is buying this, that he just mispronounced the name and didn’t mean anything by it. If he had just mispronounced her name once, maybe we would have bought it, but at that point, when he said the third time ‘Ka-mala-mala-mala’ we knew in fact he was in a way making light of her name.”

AJC: Perdue purposely flubs Kamala Harris’ name, drawing sharp criticism

• U.S. Sen. David Perdue intentionally flubbed the name of Joe Biden’s running-mate Kamala Harris at a rally Friday for President Donald Trump in Macon, drawing immediate criticism from his Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff and others who called it a “racist tactic.”

• As Perdue warned that the Democratic presidential ticket of Biden and Harris would bring “radical socialism” to the country if elected, Perdue dramatically struggled with Harris’ name, to the delight of the crowd.

• “Kamala? Kamala? Kamala-mala-mala? I don’t know. Whatever.”

• Harris and Perdue have served together in the U.S. Senate since 2017, including as members of the Senate Budget Committee.

Washington Post: Sen. Perdue called out for mocking Sen. Kamala Harris’s first name, echoing Trump

• Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) on Friday drew the condemnation of his opponent after mispronouncing the first name of Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), the senator’s colleague of nearly four years.

• “This kind of vile, race-baiting trash talk is what President Trump has unleashed from sitting Republican members in the Senate,” Democrat Jon Ossoff said in an interview with Joy Reid on MSNBC.

• Speaking before President Trump arrived at a campaign rally in Macon, Ga., Perdue said, “Ka-ma-la, Ka-ma-la, Kamala-mala-mala, I don’t know, whatever,” seeming to pause for a smattering of laughs. His campaign wrote in a statement that Perdue “simply mispronounced Sen. Harris’s name, and he didn’t mean anything by it” — despite calls that the mix-up was purposeful.

• The antic didn’t land with those that pointed to the comment as the latest in “race-baiting” from Perdue. Other Republicans, including Trump, have mispronounced Harris’s first name (pronounced “comma-la”), even as her supporters decry the tactic as racially insensitive to the first Black woman and first South Asian American woman to be on a national party ticket.

• “Sen. David Perdue has served in the Senate alongside vice-presidential nominee and Senator Kamala Harris since 2017. He knows her name and he knows how to say it,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Helen Kalla wrote in a statement.

• “His disgusting performance today is nothing more than a desperate dog whistle from a losing politician who was already caught running anti-Semitic ads against Jon Ossoff,” Kalla wrote, alluding to a previous Perdue ad that depicted Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff with a longer and thinner nose, which the Jewish candidate alleged played on anti-Semitic tropes. The July Facebook ad post was deleted by Perdue’s campaign but not until after it racked up thousands of views on Facebook.

• Kalla wrote that Perdue should apologize for mispronouncing Harris’s name.  

HuffPost: Sen. David Perdue Takes Racist Jab At Kamala Harris’s Name

• Republican Sen. David Perdue of Georgia resorted to cheap, racist jokes about Sen. Kamala Harris’s name while warming up the crowd at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally Friday evening.

Daily Beast: Sen. David Perdue Intentionally Butchers Sen. Kamala Harris’ Name at Trump Bash

• Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) mispronounced Sen. Kamala Harris’ name while speaking before President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia on Friday night. Emphasizing different syllables, Perdue said, “Kamala, Kamala, kamala-mala-mala—I don’t know—whatever.” The two have worked together in the Senate for nearly four years, presumably allowing him ample time to learn her name.

POLITICO: David Perdue mocks Kamala Harris’ name in Trump rally warm-up

• Republican Sen. David Perdue mocked Sen. Kamala Harris on Friday, derisively mispronouncing the Democratic vice presidential candidate’s name during a campaign rally in Georgia.

NBC News: Sen. Perdue appears to mock Kamala Harris’ name at Trump rally

• Sen. David Perdue, at a Georgia campaign rally for President Donald Trump, on Friday appeared to intentionally mock the first name of Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris.

CNN: Georgia Republican senator willfully mispronounces Kamala Harris’ name at Trump rally

• Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican who’s locked in a tight reelection battle against Democrat Jon Ossoff, willfully mispronounced his Senate colleague Kamala Harris’ name on Friday during remarks ahead of President Donald Trump’s rally in the Peach State.

USA Today: Georgia GOP Sen. Perdue faces criticism after ‘mockingly’ mispronouncing Kamala Harris’ name

• Sen. David Perdue, R-GA., faced criticism Friday night after appearing to mock and purposely mangle Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris’ name at a President Donald Trump campaign rally.

AP: GOP senator mispronounces Kamala Harris’ name at Trump rally

• Republican Sen. David Perdue mocked Kamala Harris, his Senate colleague and the Democratic vice presidential nominee, on Friday by repeatedly mispronouncing her name at a Georgia rally for President Donald Trump.

ABC News: Georgia Sen. David Perdue’s mispronunciation of Kamala Harris’ name draws outrage

• Georgia Sen. David Perdue is drawing outrage after appearing to mock Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ name while warming up the crowd ahead of a rally for President Donald Trump speech on Friday night.

11Alive: Jon Ossoff calls on David Perdue to apologize for mocking Sen. Harris’ name at Macon rally

• Democratic US Senate candidate Jon Ossoff sent out a release on Saturday demanding that Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue apologize for what he called the “intentional mocking” of Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris during a rally for President Donald Trump in Macon on Friday.

CBS News: Republican senator repeatedly mispronounces Kamala Harris’ name at Trump rally

• Republican Senator David Perdue repeatedly mispronounced the name of his Senate colleague and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris while speaking at President Trump’s rally in Georgia on Friday night. The senator quickly drew criticism for his comment, which Harris’ press secretary described as “incredibly racist.”  

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