JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A white Republican U.S. senator from Mississippi said during a debate with her African-American Democratic opponent Tuesday night that she apologizes to people who were offended when she complimented a supporter by saying she would attend a “public hanging” if the supporter invited her.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s remark was caught on video that was released last week. It has brought widespread criticism both inside and outside Mississippi, a state with a history of racially motivated lynchings.
“For anyone that was offended by my comments, I certainly apologize. There was no ill will, no intent whatsoever in my statement,” Hyde-Smith said Tuesday during a televised debate with Democrat Mike Espy.
The apology was a new approach for Hyde-Smith, who repeatedly refused to answer questions about the hanging comment at a news conference Nov. 12, the day after the publisher of a liberal-leaning news site posted the video on Facebook and Twitter.
The clip shows Hyde-Smith praising a cattle rancher at a Nov. 2 campaign event in Tupelo by saying: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” Shortly after the video’s release, she said in a statement that the expression was an “exaggerated expression of regard” and said it is “ridiculous” to read any negative connotation into it.