SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 29, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — KSL Television has pulled the plug on a campaign ad attacking independent U.S. Senate candidate Evan McMullin due to concerns the ad’s content may not be truthful.
The 30-second spot, created by the out-of-state conservative group Club for Growth, re-edits a five-year-old CNN interview, making it appear that McMullin is calling current mainstream Republicans “racists” and “bigots.”
In the 2017 interview segment, commentators, including McMullin, were discussing the fallout surrounding the infamous white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia.
At the time of the interview, then-president Donald Trump was criticized for failing to fully condemn the violent demonstration that was largely led by a group of torch-bearing Nazis who famously chanted “Jews will not replace us.”
While initially decrying the white supremacists and the violence, Trump later stated “there were good people on both sides.”
A review of the original CNN interview segment reveals that the content of the current anti-McMullin, pro-Mike Lee advertisement was not only edited, but also was taken completely out of context.
McMullin, the former independent candidate for president said, “Not all Republicans, of course, are racist. I was raised by Republicans who are not at all. We welcome Americans of all backgrounds, and are not all alike. But there is an element of the Republican base that is racist, and our leaders who are afraid to stand up to them, because if they do, if they do so, they’ll be criticized, and they’ll potentially lose votes, so they don’t do it. But that’s not public service, that’s self service.
“We need leaders, especially on the Republican and conservative side these days, who will serve the country, and serving their country means standing up to these bigots. The country is built on equality and liberty, and we need all of our leaders regardless of party to stand up.”
By comparison, the 30-second, dark-money hit piece creates an entirely new sentence, falsely portraying McMullin as saying, “The Republican base is racists. These bigots.” The contrived quote is then commented on by seemingly shocked Utah women voters, who call McMullin a “charlatan” and an “opportunist.”
On Thursday night, Tanya Vea, executive vice president of Bonneville Communications, told Gephardt Daily, “We did pull an ad after receiving a complaint about the factual nature of its content, which raised concerns for us. We asked for clarification from Club for Growth, the organization which placed the ad, and they have not responded.”
In a Thursday press conference in Salt Lake City, McMullin took Lee to task for the divisive ad.
“This election and my campaign are about standing up about the broken politics and extremism that’s plagued our country and also the unhealthy influence of special interest groups in our politics. The latest example for us was yesterday. An out-of-state special interest group that supports far-right politicians across America, including Mike Lee, started running an ad that deliberately edited my words to deceive and divide our state in order to save Mike Lee and his failing campaign.”
“They’re spending millions of dollars in this campaign to deceive and divide Utahns in order to protect Mike Lee,” McMullin said.
“Today we have informed every television station running this ad that it is clearly deceptive and false, and we’ve asked them to remove the ads immediately.”
“Furthermore, I call on Mike Lee to condemn this ad and demand it be taken off the air. If Mike Lee won’t do that, then he bears direct responsibility for the ad as well.”
“Furthermore, I call on Mike Lee and his allies to stop their desperate campaign of lies. They have proven time and time again they will do and say anything to hold onto power.
“Who will you side with, Senator? Will you stand silent in the face of special interest lies or do you have the backbone to stand up for the truth?”
