Robert Johnson, the billionaire co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), has donated $500,000 to Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears' gubernatorial campaign after she was targeted by a racist sign at an Arlington County school board meeting.

Newsweek reached out via email to Johnson through his hotel investment company, RLJ Lodging Trust, and the Earle-Sears campaign for comment.

"Virginia Democrats unanimously, forcefully and unequivocally condemned the racist sign in Arlington—period," Lamont Bagby, a Black state senator and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, told Newsweek in part via email on Friday.

Why It Matters

Johnson's hefty donation, first reported by Politico, comes after Republican candidate Earle-Sears was greeted with a sign t

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