English: Official senate portrait of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) Date 17 April 2018, 09:16:50 https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/sites/default/files/Hyde%20Smith_Cindy-041718-Headshot.jpg Author U.S. Senate (Wikipedia Commons)
Major League Baseball has asked that its $5,000 donation to Mississippi Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith be returned after backlash regarding comments regarding a public lynching.
The MLB donated the maximum legal amount to Smith, but decided to ask for it back once news of the donation broke. Smith is running in Mississipi’s Tuesday runoff against Democrat Mike Espy, who is vying to become the first black Senator in the state since the Reconstruction period.
“If he invited me to a public hanging,” Hyde-Smith said of Epsy on Nov. 2 , “I’d be on the front row.” The comments serve as an ominous reminder about the ghastly history of Mississippi and the United States altogether.
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The MLB has since released a statement — or rather an explanation — for its public endorsement of the inflammatory candidate.
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“The contribution was made in connection with an event that M.L.B. lobbyists were asked to attend,” an MLB spokesman said in a statement. “M.L.B. has requested that the donation be returned.”
San Francisco Giants owner Charles B. Johnson and his wife also each donated $2,700 to the campaign, along with several other major corporations including Walmart.
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