Atlanta, GA — Multiple independent fact checkers found that Kelly Loeffler’s attacks on Reverend Raphael Warnock and Reverend Jeramiah Wright are “false,” “bogus,” and “leaves out important context,” and reported that “Loeffler’s campaign did not reply to our requests for information to back up Loeffler’s claim.”
Here are the facts:
Reverend Warnock did not give Wright an award as Loeffler claims.
- “A Texas divinity school, not Warnock, honored Wright for his career in ministry.” [Politifact]
- “He also had nothing to do with the decision to give Wright an award.” [Washington Post]
Reverend Warnock spoke out against intentionally taking a sermon out of context.
- “Warnock certainly tried to put Wright’s comments in context and suggested people read the whole sermon, not just watch the controversial snippet that appeared in a loop on cable television. But it’s a stretch to say that he defended hatred or ‘celebrated anti-American hatred.’” [Washington Post]
- “Warnock, the 50-year-old pastor of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, was among the religious leaders who said Wright had been taken out of context and misinterpreted by the mainstream.” [AJC, 3/2/2020]
Fact checkers noted that Warnock’s remarks on Wright were a defense of his commentary on “historical mistreatment of Black people,” not a defense of “hatred,” and Loeffler’s claim “ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.”
- “The ad leaves out important context. Warnock defended the Black church’s tradition of truth telling, including Wright’s sermon condemning America’s historical mistreatment of Black people. Warnock said people often confuse Black preachers’ moral outrage with hatred.” [Politifact]
###
Title and affiliation are provided for identification purposes only.
