Sen. David Perdue mispronounces colleague Sen. Kamala Harris' name at a Trump rally, saying 'Kamala-mala-mala'

John Bazemore/Associated Press

• GOP Sen. David Perdue repeatedly mispronounced Sen. Kamala Harris' name at a rally for President Donald Trump on Friday.
• "KAH-mah-la, Kah-MAH-la, Kamala-mala-mala, I don't know, whatever," Perdue said, eliciting laughs from the audience.
• Others were quick to condemn the remarks, including Sabrina Singh, Harris' campaign press secretary, who tweeted that the comments were "incredibly racist" and to "vote him out."
• John Burke, the Perdue campaign communications director, said the senator "simply mispronounced" her name.
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Sen. David Perdue of Georgia repeatedly mispronounced Sen. Kamala Harris' name at a rally for President Donald Trump on Friday.

While referring to his Senate colleague, Perdue said, "KAH-mah-la, Kah-MAH-la, Kamala-mala-mala, I don't know, whatever," eliciting laughs from the audience.

Others were quick to denounce the remarks, calling them racist.

"Well that is incredibly racist," Sabrina Singh, Harris' campaign press secretary tweeted, saying to "vote him out" by voting for Perdue's opponent. She also said that Perdue and Harris have been colleagues in the Senate for more than three years.

Jon Ossoff, who is running against Perdue, also condemned the remarks.

 

"This kind of vile, race-baiting trash talk is what President Trump has unleashed from sitting Republican members of the Senate," Ossof said on MSNBC.

He also tweeted, "Senator Perdue never would have done this to a male colleague. Or a white colleague. And everyone knows it."

John Burke, the Perdue campaign communications director, said that the senator "simply mispronounced Senator Harris' name."

"He didn't mean anything by it," he tweeted. "He was making an argument against the radical socialist agenda that she and her endorsed candidate Jon Ossoff are pushing, which includes the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-all, raising taxes, and holding up COVID relief for the people of Georgia."

Harris, who is the first Black and South Asian woman to be the vice presidential nominee of a major party, has had her name repeatedly mispronounced by political opponents. Her name is pronounced, according to the senator herself, as "comma-la."

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