Sen. David Perdue, Georgia Republican, unwillingly put the chicken company sharing his surname on the defensive Saturday by ruffling feathers during a Trump rally the night before.
Perdue, the Maryland-based meat processing company, distanced itself from the GOP lawmaker over the weekend as he faced scrutiny for mispronouncing the name of Sen. Kamala D. Harris.
Mr. Perdue was at a rally for President Trump’s reelection campaign Friday night in Macon, Georgia, when he repeatedly and willfully mispronounced the California Democrat’s name.
Amid criticizing several Democrats, Mr. Perdue tried three times to say the name of the party’s vice presidential nominee before jokingly referring to her as “Kamalamalamala.”
Mr. Perdue accordingly ignited a firestorm on social media that inadvertently caused a hassle for the 100-year-old chicken and pork processing company with the senator’s surname.
The company’s official Twitter account, @PerdueChicken, responded Saturday to a slew of angry social media posts directed its way by putting space between itself and the senator.
“I can assure you that David Perdue has no affiliation with the Perdue Brand,” a person controlling the company’s Twitter account repeatedly told users on the social media service.
Among those quick to condemn Mr. Perdue for butchering the name of his Senate colleague was Sabrina Singh, a press secretary for Ms. Harris, who called it “incredibly racist.”
“We are so much better than this,” opined Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate running against Mr. Perdue this fall.
A spokeswoman for the Perdue campaign defended his remarks when reached by CNN, the network reported later Friday.
“Senator Perdue simply mispronounced Senator Harris’ name, and he didn’t mean anything by it,” responded Perdue campaign spokeswoman Casey Black, CNN reported. “He was making an argument against the radical socialist agenda that she and her endorsed candidate Jon Ossoff are pushing.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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