Pastor rips Herschel Walker in viral sermon: Taking orders from white men

A Georgia-based pastor aimed at Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker in his Sunday sermon.

Pastor Jamal Bryant took on Walker about one week before Georgia’s midterm elections, from his pulpit at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia.

In a video posted on Twitter by Brian Tyler Cohen, Bryant said the GOP thought they could hand-pick someone the party viewed as more politically favorable than incumbent Democratic senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

“They figured they would delude us by picking somebody who they thought would, in fact, represent us better with a football than with a degree in philosophy,” Bryant said in the video viewed over 1.9 million times. “They thought we were so slow, that we were so stupid, that we would elect the lowest caricature of a stereotypical broken Black man as opposed to someone who is educated and erudite and focused.”

Bryant said that since Walker was 16 years of age “white men have been telling him what to do,” such as where to go to school, where to buy a gun or “where to pay for abortions.”

“You think they not gonna tell him how to vote in 2022?” Bryant said. “We don’t need a walker, we need a runner….Georgia, I need you to know: The slave Negro y’all are used to don’t live here no more. We can think for ourselves, function for ourselves, and vote for ourselves.”

During his campaign, Walker, a former University of Georgia football star, has been accused by multiple women of forcing them to get abortions that he paid for himself—even though he is a staunch pro-life advocate and running on that as part of his conservative platform.

Republican Senator Rick Scott and Senator Tom Cotton, both of whom campaigned for Walker in Georgia, called the allegations on behalf of the Democratic Party “desperate.”

Even after being asked about his past connections and pulling out a prop police badge during a debate with his Democratic counterpart, Walker boosted his numbers and, according to Real Clear Politics, is now ahead of Warnock but still within the margin of error.

It represents a significant swing just over a week before Election Day. In early October, Warnock led Walker, 47 percent to 44 percent.

Even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was caught on a hot mic telling President Joe Biden on an airport tarmac in Syracuse, New York, that Democrats are “in danger” in Georgia.

“The state where we’re going down now is Georgia,” Schumer said, comparing that Senate election to close races in Pennsylvania and Nevada. “It’s hard to believe that they will go for Herschel Walker.”

Republican Senator Ted Cruz amplified Schumer’s comments, saying Walker’s projected victory is indicative of a “red wave” this election cycle.

Former President Barack Obama hit key swing states on the campaign trail, including Georgia on Friday. He also took aim at Walker and his record, comparing him to former President Donald Trump while not using the former president’s name.

“There is very little evidence that he has taken any interest, bothered to learn anything about or displayed any kind of inclination toward public service or volunteer work or helping people in any way,” Obama said of Walker.

“At least we don’t really know about it, and that does make you suspect,” he went on. “Seems to me he’s a celebrity who wants to be a politician, and we’ve seen how that goes.”

Newsweek reached out to Bryant for comment.