Sen. David Perdue’s (R-Ga.) campaign deleted an ad that showed his Democratic opponent in the 2020 race, who is Jewish, with a larger nose.
The ad, listed as inactive according to Facebook ad data, requested donations to Perdue’s campaign against Jon Ossoff.
“Democrats are trying to buy Georgia!” the ad said, accompanied by photos of Ossoff and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is also Jewish.
The image of Ossoff used in the ad comes from a 2017 Reuters photo, but the ad appears to have lengthened and widened his nose, three graphic design experts told the Forward.
A Perdue campaign spokesperson told The Hill in a statement that the edit was “handled by an outside vendor” and “accidental” and that the photo was “immediately removed” from Facebook.
“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,” the 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 spokesperson added.
The spokesperson noted that Perdue co-sponsored a resolution condemning all forms of anti-Semitism and wrote to national leaders condemning anti-Semitism and calling for more security for Jewish organizations.
The ad began running on July 22 and had the potential to reach more than 1 million people. Facebook ad data shows it made between 3,000 and 4,000 impressions before being removed.
Ossoff responded to the Forward’s story in a tweet, saying the edit is “the oldest, most obvious, least original anti-Semitic trope in history.”
“Senator, literally no one believes your excuses,” he posted.
Ossoff and Perdue will face off in the November election, which The Cook Political Report has rated as a toss-up race.