Former Facebook president Sean Parker condemned recent comments made by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) that appeared to joke about attending a “public hanging,” calling the statements “reprehensible.”
Parker, however, told The Daily Beast through a spokesperson that his past campaign contribution to the Mississippi Victory Fund, a PAC supporting Hyde-Smith, was made in an effort to thwart her primary election opponent Chris McDaniel, who had made controversial statements about race during the primary.
{mosads}”Mr. Parker doesn’t know Cindy Hyde-Smith and finds her rhetoric reprehensible,” a spokesperson for the Napster founder and former Facebook founding president told The Daily Beast.
“His contribution from early this year was a continuation of the effort to defeat McDaniel,” the spokesperson said. “Mr. Parker’s connection to the Mississippi Victory Fund goes back to 2014 and is expressly tied to helping defeat Chris McDaniel.”
Hyde-Smith, who is set to face Democrat Mike Espy in a Nov. 27 runoff, faced criticism after joking that she would attend a “public hanging” if a supporter invited her, as well as for a 2014 photo that resurfaced this week showing her wearing a confederate soldier’s hat while visiting the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library.
President Trump is set to travel to Mississippi to campaign for Hyde-Smith twice ahead of her runoff election, while companies such as Walmart have pulled their support from her campaign over the controversies.
Hyde-Smith has claimed that the comments were meant in jest, and has blamed Democrats for using them to stir up accusations of racism.