Huckabee praises Heroic Media, jabs at Obama during Orlando event (Updated)

Speaking at an Orlando fundraiser dinner for Texas-based Heroic Media, an anti-abortion group that relies heavily on controversial advertising campaigns, Florida resident and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee spoke mostly about the importance of promoting alternatives to abortion.

During the event (tickets started at $500), Huckabee praised Heroic’s efforts at using media as a means to relay its anti-abortion message, saying that the culture of the movement needed to change.

According to reports, Huckabee also took some jabs at President Obama. Saying that he was often more recognized from his work with Fox News than from his 2008 presidential campaign, Huckabee remarked, “We pay more attention to who we see on TV. … We pay little attention to who we elect for president, obviously.” According to CNN, the comment was “met with cheers from the mostly Christian Conservative audience.”

Though an interview in which Heroic’s founder, Brian Follett, compared Planned Parenthood’s efforts to “genocide” led some conservatives to distance themselves from the group, Huckabee has never shied away from Follett and Heroic’s endorsement.

In fact, Huckabee spoke at another controversial dinner on Monday night, in Knoxville, Tenn. Dozens protested the former governor’s appearance at a fundraiser for the Center for Bioethical Reform, a group that funds a so-called “Genocide Awareness Project,” a traveling photo-mural exhibit that compares abortion to historically recognized forms of genocide, like the Holocaust.

“It was wrong to own a slave in Mississippi and Michigan,” said Huckabee, speaking about the possibility of leaving the legality of abortion up to individual states. “This is not a states issue.”

Update:

Heroic Media Director of Communication Kimberly Guidry emailed us to clarify that the Huckabee event was not a “ticketed event,” but instead one for which attendees purchased “sponsorships” that came with “free” tickets.

“We had several individuals purchase sponsorships at various levels,” Guidry writes. “Their guests did not pay … nor did several others who were new to our mission.”