Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts has responded after his father, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, apologized for racist emails that were leaked on Monday.
An online media outlet published emails in which Ricketts took part in racist comments and conspiracy theories. Some of the emails Splinter News published Monday featured Ricketts making Islamophobic comments, such as "Islam is a cult and not a religion. Christianity and Judaism are based on love, whereas Islam is based on ‘kill the infidel,’ a thing of evil.’’ Others included conspiracies about former President Barack Obama's birthplace and education.
In some of those leaked emails Pete Ricketts cautioned his father to check the source of some information before sharing it. "My dad has apologized, deeply regrets the e-mails that were clearly not in line with his values in regards to bigotry doesn't have any place in our society," Ricketts told KFAB's Chris Baker.
"What happened was somebody stole some of his e-mails, I don't think anyone knows exactly how that happened. They turned them over to this blog and they got published."
Joe Ricketts apologized for the emails in a statement on Tuesday. “I deeply regret and apologize for some of the exchanges I had in my emails. Sometimes I received emails that I should have condemned. Other times I’ve said things that don’t reflect my value system. I strongly believe that bigoted ideas are wrong.”