Huckabee’s tweet on MLB is called racist
Comment assailed by Asian Americans
Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee came under criticism Saturday for a tweet attacking Major League Baseball and several corporations that many found bigoted and insensitive.
“I’ve decided to ‘identify’ as Chinese. Coke will like me, Delta will agree with my ‘values’ and I’ll probably get shoes from Nike & tickets to @MLB games. Ain’t America great?” Huckabee wrote.
Huckabee’s tweet was quickly condemned as racist, as many Asian Americans and anti-hate speech advocates have pointed to anti-Chinese rhetoric as a key driver in rising anti-Asian hate – and hate crimes – in the U.S.
The New Georgia Project, a voting rights group based in Georgia, called the tweet “openly racist,” while others called the tweet “hateful,” “disgraceful” and “antithetical to the gospel.”
Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, responded to claims he had violated Christian doctrine a day before Easter Sunday, saying, “I don’t take Twitter or myself that seriously but I do take gospel seriously. I truly wish you only joy & continued blessings.”
Huckabee’s criticism was part of a backlash against MLB after the professional sports league decided to move its All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to Georgia’s new election law. Huckabee also echoed the conservative ire toward businesses either headquartered or heavily invested in Georgia – including Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and Microsoft – that have opposed the law. Financial institutions such as Citi and JPMorgan Chase have also expressed concern about the law.
Last month, the state’s Republican Legislature and governor passed a law that reduced voting access and added more stringent voting requirements. Critics claimed the law was the imposition of a “New Jim Crow” for its disproportionate impact on minority voters, while advocates defended the law’s provisions as necessary security measures. They also say the criticism is overblown and misrepresents the law’s contents.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred said in a statement.
Republican lawmakers in the state and across the country have consequently shot back at the companies and voting rights advocates. Many drew comparisons between corporate treatment of the situation in Georgia and some companies’ responses to human rights violations in China.
Georgia politicians have been fiercely divided over the issue.
“Just as elections have consequences, so do the actions of those who are elected. Unfortunately, the removal of the @MLB All-Star game from GA is likely the 1st of many dominoes to fall, until the unnecessary barriers put in place to restrict access to the ballot box are removed,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter.
“Today, Major League Baseball caved to fear, political opportunism, and liberal lies,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a statement.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., a fierce critic of the bill, said in a statement, “Businesses and organizations have great power in their voices and ability to push for change, and I respect the decision of the players to speak out against this unjust law. It is my hope that businesses, athletes, and entertainers can protest this law not by leaving Georgia but by coming here and fighting voter suppression head on, and hand-in-hand with the community.”