BET co-founder backs GOP nominee Winsome Earle-Sears for VA governor with massive donation after woke racist sign incident

The co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), and longtime backer and donor to Democrats, has donated $500,000 to the black GOP nominee in Virginia's gubernatorial race, Winsome Earle-Sears, who is also the state’s Lieutenant Governor. The donation comes on the heels of a racist sign being directed at the nominee.

Robert Johnson, the co-founder of BET as well as asset manager for RLJ Companies, donated $500,000 to Earle-Sears’ campaign, per Politico Playbook. Johnson, who is also one of the first black billionaires in the US, said that he wanted to donate the $500,000 to Earle-Sears' campaign to stand with her after a racially charged sign was used against her at a rally.

“Madam Lt. Governor. I was so appalled by that racist diatribe displayed by a useful idiot at a recent press event that I chose to show all the voters of Virginia how Black Brothers stand up to defend and support their Black Sisters when confronted with unadulterated racism,” Johnson wrote to Earle-Sears. “I have always been a good investor and that’s why I’m investing in you.”

Earle-Sears would be the first black female governor in the country if she were elected, a point that was pushed by Democrats when Stacey Abrams was running for governor in Georgia. However, Democrats are not pushing the same message now. Earle-Sears is running against former Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger. The election is taking place in November this year.

Johnson previously gave funding to former Democratic Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat who was bested by GOP governor Glenn Youngkin when McAuliffe tried to run a second time. He also supported Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016, per the Daily Caller.

A white woman had been attending a rally to protest Earle-Sears and held up a racially charged sign that stated, “Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then blacks can’t share my water foundation."

"I’m disgusted, but not surprised. This is the ‘tolerant’ left Abigail Spanberger defends,” Earle-Sears wrote on X at the time. “There is no place for this disgusting hatred in our Commonwealth. Anyone who doesn’t condemn this sign is complicit in approving it.”