Platner's bad Mass. weekend: NESN yanks ad, Auchincloss slams candidate on CNN

The news out of Massachusetts this long weekend wasn't very kind to Graham Platner.

Twice in the past week, Platner, the oyster farmer running for the Democratic nomination in Maine's Senate race, was greeted with unwanted news coming from the other side of New Hampshire.

Over the weekend, Platner said the New England Sports Network, aka NESN, pulled a Boston Red Sox-themed campaign ad that took aim at team ownership specifically and private equity's effect on the economy generally. The spot ended with Platner saying he approved the ad "because I miss Mookie Betts," whom the Red Sox traded in 2020.

Fenway Sports Group owns both the Sox and 80% of NESN.

In a statement to WBUR, a NESN spokesperson said the ad was pulled because it "included unauthorized use of third-party intellectual property and did not comply with NESN’s advertising standards.”

Then, on Monday, U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss slammed Platner during an interview on CNN, saying a tattoo got in 2007 was "disqualifying."

Platner has said he got that tattoo during a drunken night while serving with the marines in Kosovo. Speaking on the Pod Save America podcast last year, he said he was only recently told it resembled an infamous Nazi SS symbol. The next week, he had the tattoo covered with a different image.

"I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying. I hope Maine voters agree with me," Auchincloss said on CNN's "The Arena." "I think that it would be a mistake for the Democratic Party to think that Graham Platner's brand of the Democratic Party is what wins us durable majorities throughout this country."

Auchincloss tweeted later in the day to address concerns that his comments were tantamount to an endorsement of Platner's opponent, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

"Claims that I would endorse her, implicitly or otherwise, ignore my track record supporting Democrats to take back both chambers," Auchincloss wrote, later adding, "If it were me I'd vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary."