Pritzker Deflects on Biting Crime Commercial
An ad aired by Richard Uihlein-backed People Who Play By the Rules PAC highlights an attack on a woman on a Chicago street. Governor JB Pritzker said the ad has a “racial tinge” but didn’t condemn the attack itself.
Viewers of Sunday’s Chicago Bears game in the Chicago TV market saw a commercial featuring a shocking attack on a woman walking down the street in broad daylight.
The ad is run by radio host Dan Proft’s People Who Play By the Rules PAC, which is funded largely by billionaire conservative donor Richard Uihlein. The ad contains no music or speaking, just the sound of the woman screaming while attacked, as caught on a neighbor’s security camera.
In a statement announcing the new ad last week, the Proft-run PAC claimed “The ad speaks for itself.”
“It’s a terrible commercial,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference Monday. “They’ve chosen a particular crime in which there was a white woman who was the victim, and apparently, black perpetrators.”
Upon review of the video, it appears the criminals are wearing long sleeved hooded sweatshirts and face coverings and it is difficult to determine their race.
Pritzker implied the ad had racist connotations.
“That’s the ad they want people to see, particularly in the suburbs,” Pritzker said. “That’s part of the entire racial tinge of everything that’s being put out by that PAC.”
The Proft-run PAC was criticized last month by African American Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for allegedly “darkening” her complexion in an ad.
Though, Pritzker chose not to address the crime problems addressed in the ad.
“You wanna talk about crime? Let’s talk about crime,” Pritzker said before launching into an attack on his Republican opponent, Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), claiming Bailey wanted to “defund police” by voting against Democrat-written state budgets.
Pritzker claimed more state troopers and increased funding for crime labs that would “prevent violent crime.”
In a statement Monday night, Proft criticized Pritzker's deflection on the issue.
“That Pritzker is more concerned about racial profiles than he is about a woman being violently terrorized at the hands three men explains why Chicago and Illinois are both descending into lawlessness,” he said.