White Supremacist Group Targets Stacey Abrams and Oprah with Racist Robocall
The same Idaho-based white supremacist group that recently targeted Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum with extremely racist robocalls is now targeting Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Oprah Winfrey, who has been canvassing for Abrams.
TheRoadToPower.com, which the Anti-Defamation League says is run by a white supremacist podcast host named Scott D. Rhodes, reportedly funded the calls that went out to Georgia voters on Friday.
“This is the magical negro, Oprah Winfrey, asking you to make my fellow negress, Stacey Abrams, the governor of Georgia,” a prerecorded voice says on the call. “Years ago, the Jews who own the American media saw something in me—the ability to trick dumb white women into thinking I was like them, and to do, read, and think what I told them to.”
The robocall goes on to call Abrams “a poor-man’s Aunt Jemima.”
In a statement reported by CNN, Abrams’ Republican opponent, GA Secretary of State Brian Kemp—who has been doing everything in his power to suppress African American voters in his state—called the robocalls “unapologetic bigotry.”
“I stand against any person or organization that peddles this type of unbridled hate and unapologetic bigotry,” he said.
But Abrams’ director of strategic communication, Abigail Collazo, responded on Saturday by calling Kemp’s words “pathetic.”
Per CNN:
“Over the last few weeks we’ve seen increasing desperation from many dark corners trying to steal the election, cheat, lie, and prey on people’s fears rather than having the respect to listen to voters and speak to their hopes,” Collazo said. She added that it was “pathetic” that Kemp “has only now suddenly decided to find a conscience as polls are tightening and Georgia voters are making it clear that they reject the kind of hate he and his allies have been spewing around the state. These automated calls are being sent into homes just days before President Trump arrives, reminding voters exactly who is promoting a political climate that celebrates this kind of vile, poisonous thinking.”
According to BuzzFeed, Rhodes also was behind past racist robocalls in California, Idaho, Iowa, and Pennsylvania.
While Rhodes’ attacks on Abrams and Oprah are extremely and overtly racist, other right-wing media and politicians have been targeting the two women with a slightly more subtle version of political race-baiting and class warfare.
As Splinter’s Rafi Schwartz reported on Friday, Fox News has begun attacking Oprah on several of its shows, including one hosted by the bigoted Laura Ingraham. Fox & Friends and Fox Friends First also featured guests who likened Oprah to a far-left socialist and, simultaneously, a wealthy elitist.
On Thursday, while stumping for Kemp, Vice President Mike Pence claimed Abrams is “bankrolled by Hollywood liberals,” The Root reported.
“I heard Oprah is in town today. I heard Will Ferrell was going door-to-door the other day,” Pence said. “I’d like to remind Stacey and Oprah and Will Ferrell, I’m kind of a big deal, too.”
He added: “And I’ve got a message for all of Stacey Abrams’s liberal Hollywood friends: This ain’t Hollywood.”
Recent polling shows the race between Abrams and Kemp is too close to predict.