COTA Withdraws Support From IndyAustin--Pepe the Frog gaffe costs anti-stadium drive big bucks
Circuit of the Americas, which had been one of the largest financial backers of IndyAustin, has withdrawn “all financial support” from the political action committee after Pepe the Frog found his way into an IndyAustin video attacking Mayor Steve Adler over the effort to bring Major League Soccer to town.
The video in question was sent out Friday, Oct. 26 in an email with the subject line, “Video of Steve Adler's Shall [sic] Game on Austin.” The now-deleted silent animated video shows a shell game while scrolling text lambastes Adler for the McKalla Place soccer stadium deal; IndyAustin is both electioneering against Adler in this election and conducting a petition drive aiming to force “Adler’s sucker stadium” onto a future ballot.
At the end of the video, when the shells are lifted, the “pea” is revealed to be Pepe, the cartoon frog who became a favorite of Trump-loving anti-Semites during and after the 2016 election campaign. The use of a widely recognized hate symbol in an ad attacking the city’s Jewish mayor proved a step too far for COTA.
Also on Friday, COTA had blogged its support for IndyAustin’s petition in no uncertain terms: “Austin cannot keep giving special deals to out-of-town businesses with no connection to the community, while local businesses and homeowners struggle to afford to be here … By seeking a public vote - not unlike what has occurred in stadium deals elsewhere - IndyAustin is trying to do what is best for the taxpayers and the school district.” This was the most explicit statement yet that COTA, which will host the Austin Bold squad in the United Soccer League (a level below MLS), has been directly and financially involved in the opposition to the McKalla Place deal.
Read more: https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2018-10-29/cota-withdraws-support-from-indyaustin/
