Google has asked Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith to refund its $5,000 campaign contribution in light of controversy surrounding racially insensitive remarks the Mississippi Republican made earlier this month.
“We can confirm this is accurate,” a Google spokesperson told TIME.
The refund request comes as Hyde-Smith faces the fallout for her comments about attending a “public hanging” during a campaign stop on Nov. 2.
“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be in the front row,” Hyde-Smith said in reference to one of her supporters.
She faces Mike Espy, a black Democrat, in a runoff election Tuesday.
“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row”- Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith says in Tupelo, MS after Colin Hutchinson, cattle rancher, praises her.
Hyde-Smith is in a runoff on Nov 27th against Mike Espy. pic.twitter.com/0a9jOEjokr
— Lamar White, Jr. (@LamarWhiteJr) November 11, 2018
She has also joked about voter suppression, saying earlier in November that “maybe we want to make it just a little more difficult” for “liberal folks” to vote.
Both comments have been widely interpreted as racist. Mississippi has a long history of racially-motivated lynchings of black people and of suppressing voters.
Representatives for Google did not say when the company made its donation to Hyde-Smith’s campaign or when a refund was requested. The tech giant joins several companies and groups that have requested refunds from Hyde-Smith’s campaign, including Major League Baseball and Walmart.