Warnock compared America to communist Cuba, said Fidel Castro had 'complex' legacy in resurfaced video

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for December 9

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, whose Senate runoff race in Georgia will help decide which party controls Congress’ upper chamber next year, is again facing criticism over controversial past comments.

In a resurfaced video of a speech he made shortly after the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in 2016, he compared political prisoners in Cuba to Black Americans who are unfairly treated under the U.S. criminal justice system.

“If some people get slapped on the hand for the same crime, and others go to federal prison, then we too have our own political prisoners,” he said.

In this Nov. 15, file photo Raphael Warnock, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks during a campaign rally in Marietta, Ga. Warnock and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler are in a runoff election for the Senate seat. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

LOEFFLER AD BLITZ TARGETS WARNOCK'S ALLEGED PAST DISMISSALS OF CRITIQUES ON SOCIALISM

He said Americans could be considered political prisoners if “politics of race and class” factored more heavily into their incarceration than the crime they committed. And he added that Castro’s legacy was “complex, kind of like America’s legacy is complex.”

Warnock previously has faced questions about his past statements, often during sermons. He once worked at a New York City church that welcomed Castro during a visit to the UN, although his campaign said he played no role in that event.

He has mentioned South Africa’s oppressive apartheid regime when discussing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and been accused of sympathizing with Marxists and socialists. Meanwhile his opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, was accused by Warnock’s camp of standing with “White supremacists and QAnon conspiracy theorists” as the two campaigns step up attacks heading into the Jan. 5 runoff.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Warnock campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Castro speech.

Warnock is vying to unseat Loeffler in one of two runoff elections for Georgia’s Senate seats.