Jon Ossoff
Jon OssoffREUTERS

Investigative journalist and Georgia Senate hopeful Jon Ossoff has accused his rival’s reelection campaign of anti-Semitism, after a campaign ad showed Ossoff’s nose stretched out beyond its actual length.

Ossoff, the 33-year-old Democratic nominee who first drew nationwide attention when he challenged Republican Karen Handel in a special congressional race, says a new ad which had been produced by Republican Georgia Senator David Perdue’s reelection campaign intentionally used a modified image of his face.

“Sitting U.S. Senator David Perdue's digital attack ad distorted my face to enlarge and extend my nose. I'm Jewish. This is the oldest, most obvious, least original anti-Semitic trope in history. Senator, literally no one believes your excuses,” Ossoff tweeted Tuesday morning.

Senator Perdue had uploaded on his Facebook account an attack ad linking Ossoff to New York Senator and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, accusing out-of-state Democrats of “trying to buy Georgia”.

Perdue later removed the ad.

A campaign official said the stretching of Ossoff’s face and enlarging of his nose in the ad had been accidental.

"In the graphic design process handled by an outside vendor, the photo was resized and a filter was applied, which appears to have caused an unintentional error that distorted the image," the spokesperson told Forward.

"Obviously, this was accidental, but to ensure there is absolutely no confusion, we have immediately removed the image from Facebook.

"Anybody who implies that this was anything other than an inadvertent error is intentionally misrepresenting Senator Perdue's strong and consistent record of standing firmly against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate."