Mississippi Senator Makes Joke About Public Hangings
- Funny
- Offensive
November 12, 2018 – Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has drawn harsh criticism for a “joke” made while campaigning earlier in November:
“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”
“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row”- Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith says in Tupelo, MS after Colin Hutchinson, cattle rancher, praises her.
Hyde-Smith is in a runoff on Nov 27th against Mike Espy. pic.twitter.com/0a9jOEjokr
— Lamar White, Jr. (@LamarWhiteJr) November 11, 2018
Hyde-Smith is in a runoff on Nov 27th against Mike Espy. pic.twitter.com/0a9jOEjokr
— Lamar White, Jr. (@LamarWhiteJr) November 11, 2018
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called the senator’s comments on public hanging “beyond disrespectful and offensive.” Thompson added that their state of Mississippi has a history that includes “one of the highest numbers of public lynching, that we know of, than any other state in this country.”
In a rebuttal of the criticism, Hyde-Smith called the remark an “exaggerated expression of regard, and any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous.”