Bakari Sellers: Tuberville can ‘go to hell’ over reparations remark

Bakari Sellers on Sunday said Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) suggestion that Democrats want reparations for minorities because their party is “pro-crime” evoked “racist tropes.”

“Tommy Tuberville can go to hell, and let me tell you why,” the CNN political analyst said during an appearance on “State of the Union.” 

“The fact is, he made tens of millions of dollars off unpaid black men as a football coach,” Sellers, who served as a Democratic state representative in South Carolina, continued. “He literally has the stature he has because people went out there and assumed the risk and incurred the risk of concussions, playing hard and everything.”

Prior to his election in 2020, Tuberville worked as Auburn University’s head football coach from 1999 to 2008.

Speaking at a rally hosted by former President Trump in Minden, Nev. on Saturday, Tuberville slammed what he views as Democrats’ lax response to crime.

“No, they’re not soft on crime,” Tuberville said. “They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bullshit.”

Sellers on Sunday suggested on CNN that the Alabama Republican is not alone in his view.

“For him to give these racist tropes — I mean, it infuriates me,” Sellers said. “But this is a large swath of the Republican Party that they have to deal with that they have never done.”

The Hill has reached out to a Tuberville spokesman for comment.

Republicans have latched onto crime as the midterm campaign season enters its final days, accusing Democrats and liberal district attorneys as being soft on prosecuting offenders.

FBI data released last week shows murders increased in 2021 by 4.3 percent, a slower rate than the significant jump in 2020.