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The Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday slammed Republican South Carolina governor candidateCatherine Templeton for her comments on the campaign trail about her family's ties to the Confederacy.

During his weekly "Gotcha" segment on MSNBC's "Politics Nation,"Sharpton criticized Templeton for speaking fondly of the Confederacy.

He was referring to remarks she made last month at Bob Jones University, where she told a mostly student crowd that her relatives fought for the South in the Civil War because "the federal government was telling us how to live."

"I think it's important to note that my family didn't fight because we had slaves. My family fought because the federal government was telling us how to live," Templeton said.

The Greenville News reported Templeton's family owned 66 slaves.

Her campaign told the newspaper of the findings, "This campaign is about the future, not about the past."

Sharpton said those comments left Templeton with a "full carton of egg on her face."

"Past is prologue, and themorally convenient idea that resistance to government should trump the moral baseline of not defending slavery is one of the fixtures that's brought white nationalism back to the forefront. Well, that and this presidency," Sharpton said.

Templeton, a Mount Pleasant attorney and former state agency director, hasrepeatedly aligned herself with President Donald Trump. Upon learning that her family owned slaves, Templeton said she would embrace her family "warts and all."

"The warts are ugly and like racism, spread via contact with the infected. But as racists have been finding out for roughly the last 40 years, Rev. Sharpton's got a mean ointment to help with that. Try rubbing this one on your brain: I gotcha!" he said, pointing at the camera.

Mark Powell,Templeton's campaign spokesman, toldThe Post and Courier the MSNBC segment was a reflection that "liberals hate Catherine Templeton."

"We're not exactly shocked that Al Sharpton and the radicals at MSNBC are doing everything they can to distort and attack her. They're scared of her commitment to true conservative reform. And they should be,"Powell said in a statement.

Templeton is one of five GOP contenders vying for the governorship. Three Democrats are also running for the seat.

Reach Caitlin Byrd at 843-937-5590 and follow her on Twitter @MaryCaitlinByrd.

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