By Landon Mion. Media: Fox News.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Sunday she did not believe Jesus would support Super Bowl commercials that she claims make fascism “look benign.”
The Christian group He Gets Us reportedly spent $20 million on two Super Bowl advertisements that showed Jesus as someone with empathy for immigrants and the poor, who was also tired of the division of politics.
“Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet.
It was not entirely clear which ad she was referencing, though one of the He Gets Us spots that aired Sunday night started with a black-and-white image apparently showing a man shouting at a police officer in riot gear. Other images of unrest then appeared, followed by a line on-screen: “Jesus loved the people we hate.”
The advertising campaign is funded in part by the family behind Hobby Lobby, as well as Christian groups and other anonymous donors. The ads were an effort to spread the message of Jesus to LGBTQ+ people and other communities that have often felt unwelcome by Christianity.
One commercial shows a slideshow of black-and-white images of migrants fleeing their homes to avoid persecution. The ad revealed that the story is actually about Jesus, his mother Mary and her husband Joseph.
The other ad displays black-and-white images of disputes between people over racial justice, pandemic lockdowns and politics. The ad then states, “Jesus loved the people we hate.”
The He Gets Us campaign was launched in March 2022 and plans to spend $2 billion over the next several years. The ads direct viewers to a website that includes Bible readings, methods to chat with real people about religion and information about Jesus.
The ads were aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. The Chiefs ultimately won the contest 38-35 after a game-winning field goal by Harrison Butker.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.