MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Who is Majid Padellan? Influencer Brooklyn Dad slammed for $60,000 in payments for pro-Biden and anti-Trump tweets

Brooklyn Dad Defiant had previously been called cringy and annoying for calling Jill Biden America's Mommy

Was Brooklyn Dad paid to defend Joe Biden on Twitter? On March 10, 2021, the micro-blogging site was flooded with rumors surrounding the popular influencer — whose real name is Majid M Padellan and is famous as Brooklyn Dad Defiant. He was dragged on suspicion of being a paid Democratic operative who reportedly received almost $60,000 for defending President Joe Biden and promoting anti-Donald Trump tweets. 

Following the online uproar and memes against him, Padellan addressed the claims and refuted them with proof. We dug into the origin of the rumor and found out unknown details about the controversial influencer. Here's all you need to know about his life and the recent scandal. 

READ MORE 

Trump redirects donations to his PAC instead of RNC after cease-and-desist snub: 'No more money for RINOS'

The Lincoln Project’s rise and fall: How anti-Trump powerhouse imploded after allegedly ignoring sex scandal

Who is Majid M Padellan?

Boasting over 896,000 followers on Twitter and a paltry 2,300 followers on his Instagram account, Padellan is a small-scale social media influencer popular by the moniker Brooklyn Dad Defiant. The website of the vehemently anti-Trump YouTuber describes him as a "Proud Dad, Husband, Social Media Influencer, Author". In real life, Padellan is an art director, teacher, designer, and writer of the book 'The Liddle'est President'.

If his bio is to be believed, he has even designed for Disney and Lockheed Martin. A father of five and an avid lover of music, dogs, and Yankees, Brooklyn Dad identifies himself as a comic book nerd. "I will be occasionally ranting about stuff. Other times I will be laughing (hopefully). Sometimes, just chilling. But, no matter what, expect nothing less than the truth from me ALL THE TIME. Thank you for visiting. I hope to entertain you," Padellan says in the description of his blog. 

As an influencer, Padellan is often identified as cringy and annoying. "Brooklyn Dad is cringy and annoying but mostly harmless," a Twitter user wrote about him. Another user said, "I don't care about who gets paid to tweet and who does it of their own volition. I just think Brooklyn Dad Defiant and all of his resistor friends are extremely cringy and politically uneducated. They never have any idea what they're talking about."

Is he pro-Biden and anti-Trump?

Brooklyn Dad first came into prominence after he tweeted his disappointment over Phoebe Bridgers smashing her guitar on an episode of Saturday Night Live. "Why did this woman, Phoebe Bridgers, destroy her guitar on SNL? I mean, I didn't care much for the song either, but that seemed extra," he wrote.

Thereafter, his views shifted to politics. Padellan's ill-fame rose mainly from his past cringe-worthy tweets about Biden, Bernie Sanders, former president Donald Trump and even Jill Biden, whom he once referred to as 'potential America's Mommy'.

"I wish Bernie would just cut the crap and drop out already. It would be nice to not have to repeat 2016 all over again. IT NEEDS TO BE SAID," he tweeted in April 2020. Later, in another tweet, the die-hard fan of Biden wrote, "President Biden is ready to kick that azzzzzz."

In another tweet, he compared Trump and Biden, saying, "Another big difference between President Biden and trump: trump held up the distribution of the stimulus checks so they could print his name on them, but Biden doesn't want his name on them -- he just wants the checks out QUICKLY."

"Jill Biden is going to give America a Mommy again. It's what we need," he once quoted his wife as saying, adding 'AMEN'.

Was Padellan paid for his Biden tweets?

Recently, several rumors surfaced on Twitter that Padellan was being paid by a Democrat political action committee. Several critics accused him of being paid to post pro-Democratic content — calling it a fact that he kept hidden from his followers. It started when a user shared a screenshot of data from Federal Election Commission (FEC) data that showed Padellan to have been paid $57,088 by a liberal political action committee known as Really American PAC.

"Brooklyn Dad being a paid Dem op is pretty unsurprising, it absolutely does pay to have/promote shitty political opinions in America," the user tweeted along with a screenshot of his payment receipt.

When asked by another user if this information was "actually shocking" or not, the whistleblower wrote, "Ofc it isn't. But it's still good to know who's funding him for his takes, no? Like it might be significant that he's funded by healthcare interests and Google, and Amazon and John fucking Legend to tweet anti-Left policy takes."

What is Really American PAC?

Really American PAC is an anti-Donald Trump political action committee founded by Justin Horwitz, who claimed to have worked with Democratic Socialists in the past, but has often been criticized by the staunch leftists, reports DailyDot.

Brooklyn Dad was mentioned in many other tweets that surfaced online. "Brooklyn Dad got $60,000 to shield Biden on Twitter for not giving you a $15 minimum wage or medicare for all, smearing Tara Reade, saying the Capitol riots were worse than 9/11, & fantasizing about Biden's sex life in the White House," one angry troll said and another posted, "Now we know how much money it takes for resistance grifters like Brooklyn Dad to do sexual assault and rape apologia for democrats: $60K. liberals sell their soul so cheaply."

Senior Advisor for Really American PAC

Even as the tweet with the screenshot of the payout was shared hundreds of times, Padellan himself addressed the rumors later. He pointed out how his Twitter bio has always clearly shown him as a Senior Advisor for Really American PAC — the basic information which his critics seemingly overlooked.

Pointing out that his Twitter profile clearly states he is a senior adviser to ReallyAmerican.com, he wrote, "Just woke up, saw Brooklyn Dad trending because a bunch of folks thought I was hiding information clearly stated in my profile, but even MORE of you stood up for me. Thanks you guys. Red heart I love you! Red heart."

He thanked his followers who supported him amid the barrage of hate tweets and many others stood in his support. One said, "Brooklyn Dad Defiant, aka @mmpadellan, is getting compensated. Apparently, he's good at what he does. So whoever has their panties in a twist over it can go pound sand," and another tweeted, "I stand with Brooklyn Dad @mmpadellan .. His profile says “senior consultant” for a PAC. He wasn’t hiding it. #IStandWithBrooklynDad."

The payment cycle for Majid M Padellan

If a vendor recipient profile on OpenSecrets.org is to be believed, Padellan got a total of $57,088 in 13 payments from the Really American PAC between 13 July 2020 and 24 December 2020. Notably, the list of the PACs top donors includes top businessmen and musician John Legend.

An Independent report says Really American reportedly spent more than $1 million on federal elections in the 2020 cycle. Here's the summary data for 2020 below.  

The criticism hasn't ended yet. "There's a difference between acknowledging you're a senior advisor to a PAC and disclosing that you're being paid to influence American voters on social media. Every tweet & the profile should include a *Paid Advertisement disclaimer," one tweet read adding, "The PAC-influencer relationship gives those with money advantages over others on the platform, like a HS athlete with undisclosed sponsors or a pro athlete whose performance is enhanced by steroids."

The data was released by the Federal Election Commission on March 09, 2021, except for independent expenditure and communication cost, contributions to federal candidates, and contributions from individual donor data, which were released by the Federal Election Commission on February 01, 2021.