Gov. Andy Beshear called out former Northern Kentucky attorney and GOP primary candidate Eric Deters over racial slurs and disparaging comments — he also called on all elected officials to condemn the remarks.
The racial slurs were made in videos Deters posted on Youtube.
In rare bipartisanship, Beshear also agreed with Northern Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie over his condemnation of Deters’ remarks.
Deters said that he’s “tickled” to see the two in agreement.
Earlier this week, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the Republican nominee for governor, backed out of Eric Deters’ Freedom Fest, an annual political picnic on Deters’ farm where he brings in national conservative political speakers.
But Cameron didn’t back out until he received pressure from Northern Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie over the comments Deters, who finished fourth in the Republican primary, made in the videos.
“This week, we learned that a candidate in one of our primaries for governor made and was making numerous blatantly racist and homophobic comments and statements,” Beshear said, but not naming Deters by name.
Beshear noted that Massie called him out, and “rightfully so.”
“There is no place for these types of comments in Kentucky,” Beshear said. “They are horrific. They spur hatred and division.”
The governor, who has been spending big on ads ahead of the November general election, called on elected officials to condemn the comments.
“The way we root out hate and end it is to make sure that we call it out when it’s there, no matter who is saying it,” Beshear said. “We give it no space and oxygen, and every single individual out there in a leadership position fully condemns it.”
Beshear’s remarks come after Cameron declined to condemn Deters’ comments to Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Austin Horn, who reported on Deters’ use of racial slurs.
In a statement, the Cameron campaign reiterated similar comments about the former Lexington Herald-Leader cartoonist, Joel Pett.
“It’s pretty audacious for Andy Beshear to suddenly find his voice when he’s been silent about the vitriol Daniel Cameron has faced for years,” the campaign said.
Deters told LINK nky Thursday that nothing he said was homophobic or racist.
“There is nothing that I said that was homophobic or racist,” Deters responded. “I am tickled to death to see that Thomas Massie and Andy Beshear are aligned on the same positions of the radical, Democratic, Marxist left.”