AT&T asks Hyde-Smith to return donation after ‘public hanging’ comment

AT&T is pulling its support from Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s (R-Miss.) campaign and has requested the senator’s campaign return its donations.

The telecom giant is among the latest companies to withdraw its support for Hyde-Smith after a video emerged earlier this month showing the senator saying she’d be in the “front row” of a “public hanging” if invited.

A spokesman for AT&T, which reportedly donated $2,000 to the Mississippi Republican’s campaign, told The New York Daily News on Tuesday that it had asked for its campaign donations back.

{mosads}“We are no longer supporting Senator Hyde-Smith and have requested a refund of our campaign contributions,” the spokesman told the paper.

The company joins several others that have requested a refund of their contributions to Hyde-Smith’s campaign as she continues to face scrutiny over her “public hanging” remarks.

Walmart, Pfizer, Union Pacific and Boston Scientific also cut their support for the senator this week and are seeking donation refunds, according to CNN.

Hyde-Smith’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill on Wednesday.

Democrat Mike Espy, who is facing Hyde-Smith in a runoff election on Nov. 27, called his opponent’s remarks “very disappointing” earlier this month.

“I mean this is 2018. We are going here in Mississippi into the third decade of the 21st century and we just should not have this,” he said.

However, Hyde-Smith has pushed back against criticism she’s received over the controversial remarks and called her “hanging” comments an “exaggerated expression of regard” that had been misinterpreted.