Republicans are rebuking Major League Baseball for moving its All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest of Georgia’s new voting law, which critics say is meant to suppress the Black vote.
GOP lawmakers derided the move as an example of “cancel culture” and defended the new law, which imposes new limits on voting in the Peach State.
“Georgians – and all Americans – should fully understand what the MLB’s knee-jerk decision means: cancel culture and woke political activists are coming for every aspect of your life, sports included. If the left doesn’t agree with you, facts and the truth do not matter,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said in a statement. “This attack on our state is the direct result of repeated lies from Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams about a bill that expands access to the ballot box and ensures the integrity of our elections. I will not back down.”
“This decision is not only economically harmful, it also robs Georgians of a special celebration of our national pastime free of politics. But Georgia will not be bullied by socialists and their sympathizers. We will continue to stand for accessible, secure elections that are free and fair,” said David Ralston, the Republican speaker of the Georgia state House.
Lawmakers in Washington also panned MLB’s decision, with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) calling it “cowardly.”
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) said he is instructing his staff to cobble together legislation that would strip MLB of its federal antitrust exception.
Other lawmakers pointed to relations MLB has with other countries, including Cuba and China. The two countries have come under withering criticism over their suppressions of human rights.
“.@MLB played games in Cuba, where the brutal Castro Regime murders its own citizens and denies them basic human rights like freedom of speech and free elections,” tweeted Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R). “Now these hypocrites are bowing to the woke liberal mob that upset over common-sense election reforms.”
MLB announced Friday that it was pulling its All-Star Game out of Georgia in protest of the state’s new voting restrictions.
Rob Manfred, the MLB commissioner, said in a statement the decision was made after conversations with teams and players and that moving the July 13 game out of the Peach State is “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.” The MLB draft will also be moved out of Georgia.
Among other things, the law limits the number of ballot drop boxes, minimizes the period in which a Georgia resident can apply for a mail-in ballot and institutes new photo ID requirements for a voter to send in a ballot by mail.
The avalanche of GOP criticism comes as Republicans highlight instances of so-called “cancel culture,” suggesting that liberals are out to change the fabric of America. Lawmakers have pointed to instances such as the decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to halt publication of six of the children’s author’s books due to racially insensitive imagery.
The claims appear set to be featured prominently in GOP campaigns head into the 2022 midterms, with the theme of the Conservative Political Action Conference being “America Uncanceled.”