Mike Huckabee said he would start identifying as "Chinese" in a tweet on Saturday.- The message appears to be a pushback against companies who criticized a new
Georgia voting bill . - Civil rights groups have denounced the law and said it suppresses Black voters.
Fox
"I've decided to "identify" as Chinese. Coke will like me, Delta will agree with my "values" and I'll probably get shoes from Nike & tickets to @MLB games. Ain't America great?" Huckabee said.
Huckabee appears to be criticizing companies that have come out against the bill known as SB 202, or the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which makes sweeping changes to almost every part of the state's voting and election system.
Civil rights groups have denounced the law and said it suppress Black voters.
Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian criticized the new voting law. The airline is based in Atlanta.
"I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta's values," Bastian wrote in a memo.
Major League Baseball's moved the All-Star Game out of Georgia over the new law and Coca-Cola also gave a statement in support of voting rights after activists staged a sit-in in front of their headquarters.
Huckabee's remark comes amidst dramatically increasing anti-Asian hate crimes across the country.
A man used a metal post to trash an Asian American-owned convenience store while yelling racial slurs in Charlotte North Carolina, earlier this week.
Last week, a 65-year-old Asian woman was yelled at and assaulted while on her way to church Monday morning in New York City.
Huckabee is also a Baptist Minister and his tweet comes a day before Easter, one of the highest Christian holy days. In a response to Huckabee, Evangelist Beth Moore called the remark "entirely antithetical to the gospel."
-Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) April 4, 2021
Huckabee said while he didn't take himself or Twitter seriously, he took the Gospel seriously, but stopped short of an apology on the statement.
Insider was unable to reach Huckabee for comment.