Photo: Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP; David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock
After footage aired of Jason Spencer, a Republican state representative in Georgia, screaming a racial slur and pulling down his pants onSacha Baron Cohen’s show, politicians are calling for his resignation,The Hill reports.
On Sunday night’sepisodeof Cohen’s satirical Showtime series,Who Is America?, Spencer also reportedly mocked Chinese people and stabbed a mannequin wearing a hijab — all while Cohen, in disguise as an anti-terror export, pretended to train the state lawmaker to confront terrorists.
According to theAtlanta Journal Constitution, David Ralston, the Georgia House speaker, also issued a response. “Representative Spencer has disgraced himself and should resign immediately,” he said. “Georgia is better than this.”
TheAtlanta Journal Constitutionnoted that Jon Burns, the Georgia House majority leader, and Bob Trammell, the Georgia House minority leader, may file an ethics complaint about Spencer.
The Washington Post’s Steven Zeitchiktweeted out a statementfrom Spencer. In the statement, Spencer blamed his actions on his “paralyzing fear that my family would be attacked” in the wake of the 2017shooting at a Congressional baseball practice,and after he received death threats foradvocating for a banon Muslim women wearing veils in public.
“I apologize to my family, friends, and the people of my district for this ridiculously ugly episode,” he added. “Finally, there are calls for me to resign. I recently lost my primary election, so I will not be eligible to hold office next term.”
Spencer previouslymade newsin August 2017 when he said that people who want to remove Confederate-era statues might “go missing.” He later said in a statement that he regretted his “choice of words” and claimed that he was trying to warn “that there really are people who would harm others over the issue.”
Cohen has duped a number of politicians on his new show. Among them areSarah Palin,Dick CheneyandBernie Sanders.
source: people.com
