Fox News commentator Brit Hume is dismissing criticism of a controversial ad run by Michigan Republican Pete Hoekstra, calling the broken English used by an Asian actress in the ad “pretty impressive for an alleged 'slur.'”

Dubbed “Hoekstra's broken English ad” in a Washington Post headline, the spot has come under fire for what critics have called its racial insensitivity:

The 30-second ad created by media strategist Fred Davis of California-based Strategic Perception Inc. opens with the sound of a gong and shows the Asian woman riding a bike on a narrow path lined by rice paddies.

Stopping her bike, the woman smiles into the camera and says, “Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow. Debbie spends so much American money. You borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow.”

Criticism of the racial elements has been widespread. The Michigan chapter of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote organization lambasted the ad, which they said “plays on harmful stereotypes of Asians speaking broken English.” African-American pastors in Detroit also condemned the ad: the Reverend Charles Williams II of the King Solomon Baptist church compared it to “having a black person speaking in slave dialect.” U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Michael Yaki called it a “blatantly racist anti-Asian ad.”