SAN FRANCISCO – ColorOfChange.org, together with CREDO Action, led the charge to pressure ABC News to rescind their offer to Breitbart, circulating a petition letter that secured more than 125,000 signatures and resulted in over 2,000 phone calls to The Walt Disney Company and the Disney-ABC Television Group, which owns ABC News, over the last two days. ColorOfChange.org presented the signatures and thousands of member comments yesterday, as it began facilitating phone calls to key executives at ABC and Disney.

The following is a statement from James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org, regarding ABC News’ decision to drop Andrew Breitbart from his role in tonight’s Election Night coverage.

“We applaud ABC News’ decision to rescind their offer to have Andrew Breitbart take part in tonight’s Election Night programming. Breitbart, whose entire career is built upon ‘reporting’ lies and falsehoods disguised as news, should never be given such a prestigious public platform that presents him as a legitimate journalist. By rescinding their offer to Breitbart, ABC News has taken a giant step in helping to wash our collective hands of the fear mongering and race-baiting that have no place in our political discourse.”

ColorOfChange.org noted the support on the part several other organizations, and specifically the invaluable assistance provided by the NAACP.

About ColorOfChange.org

With more than 700,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the largest African-American online political organization in the country. Link to announcement by ABC News: http://blogs.abcnews.com/pressroom/2010/11/abcs-letter-to-andrew-breitbart.html