FACT CHECK: Viral Image Claims To Show Georgia Gov Brian Kemp In KKK Regalia As A Child

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp as a child dressed in Ku Klux Klan regalia with his mother.

Verdict: False

The photo dates back to at least 1956, well before Kemp was born. Kemp’s press secretary refuted the claim.

Fact Check:

Featured in the Facebook post is a black-and-white photo of a woman and a young child both dressed in robes and hoods associated with the KKK. Above the photo is text claiming, “Just so you know this is Governor Kemp and his mother.”

However, Kemp is not the child in the photo, and the woman is not his mother. (RELATED: Does This Photo Show Gov Brian Kemp Posing With Gregory McMichael?)

A reverse image search found the photo located in the Getty Images archives. The description lists the creation date as April 27, 1956. The woman and child are not identified, nor is the location where the photo was taken.

“This unidentified Klan woman gets her son dressed up real cute in KKK robes and hat,” reads the original caption. “The boy doesn’t seem to be too happy with the outfit, if you can judge by the expression on his face.”

Kemp was born in 1963, according to the Georgia-based news station WGXA. That means it is impossible for Kemp to be pictured, as he hadn’t yet been born when the photo was taken.

“That is not the Governor or his mother,” Cody Hall, press secretary for Kemp, confirmed in an email to the Daily Caller.

This isn’t the first time Kemp, who previously served as Georgia’s secretary of state before being elected governor, has been the subject of misinformation online. Check Your Fact previously debunked an image falsely claiming to show Kemp with Gregory McMichael, one of the men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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