Sen. David Perdue was accused of making a “white power” hand gesture while actually celebrating the accomplishment of two teenage campaign volunteers.
“Flashing the #WhitePower sign on the campaign trail in #Georgia,” actress Debra Messing said in a now-deleted tweet. “Is this what you want #Georgia? You voted AGAINST white supremacy in Nov & we need you to do it ONE MORE TIME to fire this guy and #KKKKelly.”
Messing appeared to base the accusation on a post by “Blue Georgia,” which accused Perdue of making the racist gesture at a rally.
David Perdue giving the white power sign at his rally #GAPol #GASen pic.twitter.com/s7L5xSwRp0
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) January 1, 2021
The claim was repeated by journalist Judd Legum, who said Perdue should “explain why he is making a white power sign” in a post on Twitter.
Friendly reminder that @JuddLegum is a professional liar and smear merchant pic.twitter.com/LeqDANKwEr
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 3, 2021
But the GOP activist who took the photo said that it actually depicts Perdue and two campaign volunteers celebrating the milestone of having reached 3,000 voters.
“Jon Ossoff and his allies are so desperate to hurt Senator Perdue that they’re trying to smear the reputations of innocent teenagers,” said Jasper Preston, the GOP activist who took the photo. “I took this picture. I’m African-American. The boys in the picture are Native American. They are celebrating reaching 3,000 voter contacts – nothing about white supremacy!”
Preston went on to accuse people on the left of trying to “ruin the lives of young conservatives.”
“It’s sad the left is perfectly willing to try to ruin the lives of young conservatives in order to advance their agenda,” Preston said.
Along with incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, Perdue is locked in a closely contested runoff election that will decide the fate of the Senate majority. Republicans currently hold a 50-48 advantage, needing just one of the two races to maintain their majority.
Both Messing and Legum did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
