U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville continues to draw fire for controversial comments he made linking reparations with crime.

Speaking at a Nevada rally, Tuberville, R-Alabama, said Democrats weren’t soft on crime but instead promoted it to benefit themselves.

“They’re not soft on crime. They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got,” Tuberville said. “They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”

The comments drew fierce criticism, including from former television newsman Dan Rather, who called the statements “straight-up racism.”

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Others questioned Tuberville’s work with Black players while head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008.

From television host Joe Scarborough:

Activist Rev. AL Sharpton called Tuberville’s statements “patently racist.”

“When you equate crime with reparations for what was done to African Americans in slavery and in 100 years of Jim Crow since slavery…and to act like trying to make up for what this country did to Blacks because we were Black, act like that is equal to crime…and equating… crime with the right to repair the damages done is as patently racist as you can get.”

Other reactions:

(Referencing plantation owner from movie “Django Unchained.”)

Some are defending Tuberville, however.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, said while he wouldn’t have said “it the same way,” a politician should be “honest that we have a crime problem in our country.”

“I’m not going to say he’s being racist. But I wouldn’t use that language, be more polite. But the fact is we can’t ignore we have a 40 to 50 percent violent crime increase,” Bacon said. “And it’s unacceptable. When a guy commits a crime the first time, shame on them. When society releases that same criminal and they create more victims, that’s shame on us for letting that happen.”