One Month Ago Today: David Perdue “Intentionally Flubbed” Kamala Harris’ Name

November 16, 2020

“Kamala-mala-mala, I don’t know. Whatever!”

Perdue’s flub “nearly overshadowed” Trump’s Georgia rally

ATLANTA — A month ago today, Senator Perdue came under fire for his divisive rhetoric, making a “cheap, racist joke” toward Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris by intentionally mispronouncing her name at a rally in an attempt to echo Trump’s divisive rhetoric. 

WATCH: Perdue: “Kamala-mala-mala, I don’t know. Whatever!”

Nearly a dozen local elected leaders from across the state of Georgia hammered Perdue for his bigoted remark, sparking nationwide condemnation and an online movement using the hashtag #MyNameIs, where Georgians and Americans tweeted their own experiences of having their names mocked. President-Elect Joe Biden, who became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia in nearly 30 years, slammed Perdue, saying his purposeful mockery of Harris’ name has “got to stop,” and that Perdue will “try to degrade everything and everybody.” 

Perdue’s mockery marked just the beginning of a downward spiral in the final weeks of his campaign – he later pulled out of the last scheduled debate with Jon Ossoff after a previous debate moment went viral of Perdue getting slammed for downplaying the coronavirus pandemic. Days later, he took heat for mocking the CDC’s social distancing guidelines during a rally. And since failing to reach the 50% threshold and being forced into a January runoff, Perdue has avoided questions from local media, refusing to tell Georgians why he should be reelected to a second term.

Perdue has yet to take any responsibility for his bigoted remark and instead deflected blame, telling a local news outlet he “meant absolutely nothing by that,” an obviously unbelievable response.

“Senator Perdue’s harmful rhetoric and attempt to divide Georgians has only stained him and his candidacy,” said Braxton Brewington, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Voters already proved that racist remarks didn’t work for Trump in Georgia and it won’t work for Perdue come January either.”

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