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Jason Spencer, the Georgia Republican MP who was deceived by repeatedly shouting a racial epithet on the television series of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, intends to resign on July 31. The decision was announced Wednesday by David Ralston's office.
This was the first concrete consequence of Mr. Cohen's Showtime series, "Who's America?" The show culminated in a long list of former parliamentarians, including former Vice President Dick Cheney; Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California; and former Vice President Sarah Palin
The episode starring Mr. Spencer was aired on Sunday, and he initially resisted calls for resignation, even from inside his own party. Governor Nathan Deal, a Republican, said in a Twitter post on Monday that "the actions and language used by Jason Spencer are appalling and offensive." Mr. Spencer lost his spring primary in his bid for a fifth term and initially He said that he would serve his last five months, but the drum beat became too strong.
[ Sacha Baron Cohen is fooled by the Republicans. Is he the James O Keefe of the left? ]
By the time the President's Office announced the resignation, a fierce bipartisan effort to throw Mr. Spencer to power had taken shape. It was clear that he would face sustained public and private pressures, and black lawmakers had planned a state capitol press conference for Wednesday morning to demand that Spencer step aside.
State Senator Lester Jackson, a Savannah Democrat and Speaker of Georgia's Black Legislative Caucus, had promised that he and other colleagues could not "continue to tolerate well-documented conduct and completely sectarian and reprehensible "by Mr. Spencer.
But Mr. Spencer faced one of the most intense condemnations of his own party, whose leaders, although focused on the last days of a controversial first ballot for the governor, have felt a deep political risk in a state of rapid growth.
Ralston, a Republican, said Spencer had "dishonored himself," and his office said the Democratic and Republican leaders were in talks to jointly file an ethics complaint against him.
The campaign of Brian Kemp, a Republican candidate for governorship, who had obtained the endorsement of Mr. Spencer, said that he had erased the name of the legislator from his list of candidates. endorsements
. Spencer's words and behavior are hurtful, insensitive and completely unacceptable, "Kemp said in a statement," At the very least, he should make a public apology for this shameful incident. "
Mr. Spencer was announced a few hours after it became apparent that Mr Kemp had won the Republican nomination for the governor.
Before the episode was broadcast, Mr Spencer released a statement saying that Mr. Cohen had deceived him by participating in a "fake" video on self-defense and anti-terrorism, in response to the death threats received by Mr. Spencer. later withdrew legislation that critics reportedly banned Muslims from wearing veils, Mr. Spencer threatened to take legal action and added, "The deceptive and fraudulent behavior of this media company is exactly the reason p for which President Donald Trump was elected. "
But Mr. Cohen's show hit the airwaves. Erran Morad, an Israeli anti-terrorist expert, and Mr. Spencer was seen on camera dropping his trousers, mocking a stereotypical Asian accent and apparently not requiring much coax to scream the racial epithet , provoking an immediate outrage. He also used an insult to refer to people from the Middle East.
Spencer, a 43-year-old medical assistant, issued a second statement to the Washington Post Monday, apologizing. "As uncomfortable as I was to participate, I agreed to understand that these" techniques "were meant to help me and others repel what I thought was an inevitable attack," he said. -he says. "My fears were so exacerbated at that time, I did not think clearly and I could not appreciate what I was agreeing to when I participated in his" class "."
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