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Pete Hoekstra reacts to charges of racism in wake of Super Bowl commercial

Screen shots of Pete Hoekstra's Super Bowl ad. The ad generated buzz, but some are wondering if it's the right kind of buzz.
Mark Brush
/
Michigan Radio
Screen shots of Pete Hoekstra's Super Bowl ad. The ad generated buzz, but some are wondering if it's the right kind of buzz.

Republican senatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra is defending a controversial television commercial attacking U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow.

He made statements during a call with the media today, you can listen to Hoekstra's statement in the audio file above.

The commercial aired during the Super Bowl and featured an Asian woman speaking in broken English thanking Senator Stabenow for sending U.S. jobs to China.

That ad has been criticized by Democrats, Asian groups and some Republicans as ‘insensitive’ and ‘racist’.

Hoekstra calls the ad aggressive.

“I’m excited,” said Hoekstra. “It has jump started the debate right to where Republicans, independents, fiscal conservatives, business people want this debate to go. It’s about stopping spending in Washington.”

Hoekstra is one of a half dozen candidates running for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow in November.

The Associated Press reports a coalition of black ministers in Detroit is calling on U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra to apologize for the Super Bowl ad:

Rev. Charles Williams II of Detroit's King Solomon Baptist church where Malcolm X once spoke said in a Monday release that the woman's broken English in the ad is no different than "having a black person speaking in slave dialect. If Pete Hoekstra does not see any wrong in this commercial," he said, "he doesn’t deserve to be in the race."

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Public since 2005. Steve previously worked at public radio and television stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and also has extensive experience in commercial broadcasting.
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