Republican senator deletes advert that made his Jewish opponent's nose look bigger

A Republican senator has removed an advert from his Facebook page which appeared to have made the nose of his Jewish election opponent bigger.

David Perdue, who has been a senator for Georgia since 2015, is facing a re-election challenge from Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff. In the advert, which targetted Ossoff, the Democrats were accused of trying to 'buy Georgia' and also features the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who is also Jewish.

The advert features black and white photos of the pair but the image of Ossoff, which the Jewish news outlet Forward reports is from a 2017 Reuters photo has been edited to make his nose both wider and bigger. Although the paid advert, which had been active since 22 July, has since been removed it can still be viewed via the Facebook Ad Library. The advert had reportedly received between 3,000 and 4,000 impressions before it was deleted.

Picture: Facebook/ Screengrab

A spokesperson from Perdue's campaign team said that the advert had been created by an 'outside vendor' that had 'distorted' the image, adding that Perdue stands firmly against antisemitism.

In the graphic design process handled by an outside vendor, the photo was resized and a filter was applied, which appears to have caused an unintentional error that distorted the image. Obviously, this was accidental, but to ensure there is absolutely no confusion, we have immediately removed the image from Facebook. Anybody who implies that this was anything other than an inadvertent error is intentionally misrepresenting Senator Perdue’s strong and consistent record of standing firmly against antisemitism and all forms of hate.

Ossoff responded to the statement on Twitter, highlight that extending a Jewish person's nose is "oldest, most obvious, least original, antisemitic trope in history."

Perdue is a first-term Congressman who is seeking a second term as the Republicans look to hold on to their majority in the Senate.