The Arizona Republican Party has placed about a dozen billboards around Phoenix in response to false claims that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets in Ohio, a rumor raised by Sen. JD Vance and amplified by Donald Trump at Tuesday's presidential debate.
The billboards proclaim "Eat Less Kittens - Vote Republican!" and show four kittens dressed like cows in ads that resemble the "Eat Mor Chikin" promotions made popular by Chick-fil-A.
The AZGOP in a posting on X said the billboard campaign "highlights just how horrific things have become under the failed policies of 'Border Czar' Kamala Harris. ... If you're driving in Phoenix, keep an eye out for it!"
The false claims began to attract attention on Monday when Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio and Trump's running mate, said his office had "received many inquiries" about Haitian immigrants abducting and then eating cats in Springfield.
Trump then highlighted the bogus allegations during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in his response to a question about immigration.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs — the people that came in — they're eating the cats," the Republican presidential nominee said. "They're eating — they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
When informed that the claims were refuted by town officials, Trump said he saw people on television claiming "my dog was taken and used for food."
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a fellow Republican, shot down the false rumors.
"Mayor [Rob] Rue of Springfield says, 'No, there's no truth in that.' They have no evidence of that at all. So, I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows his city, " DeWine told CBS News.
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson told the Washington Post that the Republican Party did not ask the company for permission to use the design and were unaware of them before Tuesday.
Chick-fil-A did not respond to a request for comment from International Business Times.
Yolanda Bejarano, the chair of Arizona's Democratic Party, described the billboards as "racist stunts."
"The AZGOP's weird AI-looking billboard is xenophobic and entirely unserious," Bejarano said in a statement to the Washington Post. "While the AZGOP focuses on online dog whistles, we are talking to voters about the issues they care about most."
The Arizona Republican Party responded to the controversy on Facebook. It said: "Democrats and their media allies are having a meltdown over AZGOP's harmless billboards. Meanwhile, they stay silent on the REAL outrage: Kamala Harris's failed border policies that are killing Arizonans."
Democrats and their media allies are having a meltdown over AZGOP’s harmless billboards.Meanwhile, they stay silent on the REAL outrage: Kamala Harris’s failed border policies that are killing...
