Video of women wrestling in grits sparks feud between NC primary election candidates
Two North Carolina House candidates are at odds over a video that appears to show two women wrestling in grits.
Rep. Ted Davis Jr., the District 19 incumbent in the N.C. House of Representatives, ran an advertisement in January that includes a clip from the YouTube channel of a Wilmington tattoo shop owned by Justin LaNasa, his challenger in the Republican primary.
The video of the advertisement can be viewed here.
The clip shows two women wrestling in what appears to be a small tub of grits.
“Hardwire tattoo 1st grits fight to see what shop girl will be head shop girl,” the caption, shown in a screen shot included in the ad, reads.
Davis said in a statement that he usually avoids focusing on the record of his opponents but felt people needed to be “informed of his past behavior,” he said in a statement in January.
In a statement responding to Davis, LaNasa said that he believes the ad violates copyright law and accuses Davis of stealing his copyrighted material.
His statement also criticizes his opponent’s voting record and sponsored bills.
“This kind of behavior has to be stopped and the only way this will happen is if you go to the polls as a Republican or pick Republican as an unaffiliated Voter and vote him out of office,” the statement says.
Davis’s campaign also created a website that included the unedited version of videos from the YouTube channel and a link to the channel.
“Like many voters, I am frustrated and disappointed with the current state of affairs when it comes to all the negativity in American politics today. My intent is not to add to that narrative, but given the demeaning behavior exhibited in these videos, I felt it is of the upmost importance to inform voters,” Davis said in a statement about the ad and website.
The videos appear to have been deleted and the channel no longer has any content.
While Davis is the incumbent in District 19, he is running against LaNasa in District 20 in the March 3 primary because of redistricting, Port City Daily reported.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Video of women wrestling in grits sparks feud between NC primary election candidates."
