GOP Senate candidate targeted with political ad full of racist Asian stereotypes by Peter Thiel-funded PAC

July 22, 2022

A political ad targeting a Republican senatorial candidate in Arizona is getting attention online for incorporating elements considered racist against Asians.

The video, which portrays U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon as “China’s Man” in the upcoming elections, uses several images, text and sound effects that ridicule Asian culture.

The clip made several allegations against Lamon, including his company’s ties to suppliers from China, his hand in building nuclear power plants for the Chinese government and his connections with forced slave labor.

Interspersed with the message, however, are images of temples, gong sound effects, text written in chop suey typeface, and a musical riff associated with kung fu films. The Chinese flag can be seen depicted as a background behind an image of Lamon at the end of the video.

The political action committee (PAC) Saving Arizona took responsibility for the ad but distanced itself from any candidate or candidate committee.

However, the PAC publicly backs Lamon’s opponent Blake Masters and is known to be funded almost entirely by tech billionaire Peter Thiel.

Earlier this year, Lamon put out a controversial ad of his own showing him shooting a gun at characters playing President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

Lamon is also one of 11 Arizona Republicans who signed a fake elector sheet in 2021 that falsely claimed he was authorized to cast Arizona’s electoral college votes for Trump instead of Biden.

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In a tweet, angel investor and Asian American community advocate Eric Toda called out the ad, saying it could end up being “the most ignorant, racist, and bigoted ad of the campaign season.”

Featured Image via Jim Lamon

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