President Joe Biden deferred to managers of the Masters golf tournament when asked Tuesday if he thought they should boycott the state of Georgia in protest of their new election security laws.
“That’s up to the Masters,” Biden replied, when asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy whether he believed the legendary golf tournament in Atlanta, Georgia, should be moved.
Biden acknowledged corporations boycotting the state actually hurt low-income workers.
“When they in fact move out of Georgia, the people who need the help the most, the people who are making hourly wages sometimes get hurt the most,” he admitted.
But Biden said he supported corporations voicing their opposition to the new voter security laws in Georgia and elsewhere.
“I think it’s a very tough decision for a corporation to make or group to make, but I respect them when they make that judgment,” he said.
Biden said Georgia and other states considering election security laws should “smarten up” and “stop it,” describing the laws as the “new Jim Crow.”
The president helped pave the way for a Major League Baseball decision to move the All-Star tournament from Atlanta, a majority-black city in protest of the laws passed in Georgia.
“I think today’s professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly. I would strongly support them doing that,” Biden said Wednesday before the league had made a decision to move the game on Friday.