Republican Senator Pulls Ad Showing Jewish Democrat with Exaggerated Nose

A  Republican senator has deleted a Facebook ad depicting his Democratic opponent with a large, digitally manipulated nose. The campaign claims it was an error.

Georgia Senator David Perdue’s campaign has pulled the ad, which showed Democrat Jon Ossoff with House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is also Jewish.

According to graphic design experts who spoke to Forward, Ossoff’s nose had been lengthened and widened digitally. The ad also contained language that could construed as anti-Semitic: “Democrats are trying to buy Georgia!”

The Perdue campaign said the ad was the product of an external vendor and they defended the senator’s record.

“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,” a spokesperson said.

“Obviously, this was accidental, but to ensure there is absolutely no confusion, we have immediately removed the image from Facebook.”

“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 anti-Semitism and all forms of hate,” the campaign said.

Ossoff was not convinced by this explanation, however.

“Sitting U.S. Senator David Perdue’s digital attack ad distorted my face to enlarge and extend my nose,” he tweeted.

“I’m Jewish. This is the oldest, most obvious, least original anti-Semitic trope in history. Senator, literally no one believes your excuses.”

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Darragh Roche

Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media