Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel released a campaign ad on Tuesday to argue why criticial race theory shouldn't be taught in schools.
The commercial, which dropped on the first day of early voting in the Republican primary, included glimpses of Mandel at Alabama's storiedEdmund Pettus Bridge - site of the "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march.
"Martin Luther King marched right here so skin color wouldn't matter," Mandel says at the site of the 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, where police officers beat and tear gassed demonstrators.
Netizens Notice Mandel's Hands Much Darker Than His Face
As part of his efforts to convince voters that he isn't racist, Mandel also included a photo appearing to show him posing alongside five Black soldiers from one of his two tours in Iraq. "I didn't do two tours in Anbar province, fighting alongside marines of every color to come home and be called a racist."
Watch the video below:
However, eagle-eyed netizens noticed there was something wrong with the photo. Mandel's hands were much darker in complexion as compared to his face, leading many to believe his face was photoshopped onto a Black soldier's body.
Mandel's Campaign Claims a 'Darkening Filter' was Used
Politico reporter Natalie Allison tweeted that Mandel's campaign told her a "darkening filter" was used on the ad. She also shared the original photo for comparison.
Mandel Schooled by MLK's Daughter on Her Father's Legacy
After posting the campaign ad, in another tweet, Mandel thanked Bernice King and the King Center, a foundation named after the civil rights leader, "for motivating me to film this ad."
"Josh: Regretfully, I do not believe that I or @TheKingCenter legitimately motivated you to film this ad, as it is in opposition to nonviolence and to much of what my father taught," Bernice King replied on Twitter. "I encourage you to study my father/nonviolence in full."
She included a link to a nonviolence training offered by the center.
Mandel replied to her tweet, telling her to "study your history better."
"Your father knew the importance of the Second Amendment when he tried to exercise his right to self-defense and was wrongly denied a gun permit by anti-gun racists," said Mandel.
