Governor Kemp’s game-time tweet reminds fans about MLB decision to move the All-Star game

ATLANTA — Governor Brian Kemp said it was “poetic justice” that the Braves earned a spot in the World Series a few months after Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star game from Georgia over the state’s controversial voting law.

“I just thought it was poetic justice,” Kemp said in an exclusive interview with Channel 2 Action News. “I was so happy the Braves won. The fans deserve it. The organization deserves it.”

Minutes after the Braves defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers Saturday night to earn a spot in the World Series, Kemp tweeted, “while Stacey Abrams and the MLB stole the All-Star game from hardworking Georgians, the Braves earned their trip to the World Series this season and are bringing it home to Georgia.”

Kemp defended the tweet saying he believed Major League Baseball made the wrong decision to move the All-Star game to Colorado, and that it hurt small businesses around metro Atlanta which lost expected revenue.

“I felt like (the fans) and the state of Georgia were really mistreated by Major League Baseball when they moved the game to a state that’s more restrictive voting-wise in many ways than we are,” Kemp said. “It was a political decision, but thankfully, that wrong has been righted by the Braves getting in the World Series.”

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Major League Baseball joined other corporations, including Atlanta-based Delta, Home Depot and Coca-Cola in opposing that voting law.

Georgia Democrats criticized Kemp and the tweet.

“I though it was appalling,” said Democratic State Rep. Derrick Jackson of Tyrone. “It demonstrated once again that Governor Kemp was out of touch, because everything should not be politicized.”

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