GoFundMe removes Candace Owens's $200K fundraiser for man who called George Floyd 'thug', says it spreads hate
Conservative African-American author-activist Candace Owens has been suspended from GoFundMe after she launched on Saturday, June 6, a campaign for a bar owner in Birmingham, Alabama. The cafe owner had slammed George Floyd, the black American who was killed in police brutality in Minneapolis last month, calling him a “thug” and the protesters demonstrating against the racist killing as “idiots”. In less than four hours, the campaign supporting Michael Dykes raised more than $160,000. But on Sunday, June 7, Owens’s account was suspended by GoFundMe from its platform and the campaign was taken down.
“GoFundMe has suspended the account associated with Candace Owens and the GoFundMe campaign has been removed because of a repeated pattern of inflammatory statements that spread hate, discrimination, intolerance and falsehoods against the black community at a time of profound national crisis. These actions violate our terms of service. Furthermore, the Parkside Cafe has clearly condemned the comments that initially led to this campaign,” a statement issued on behalf of GoFundMe said.
The fundraiser made a terrific start as it went on amassing money in a matter of hours but Owens’s controversial remarks about Floyd appeared to have prompted GoFundMe to suspend her. By the time GoFundMe removed Owens’ campaign, $205,000 had been raised. On Sunday, June 7, Owens tweeted taking a dig at a fundraiser platform saying: “At their discretion, they deemed that funds raised for a conservative business constitutes intolerance”. GoFundMe told AL.com over email that the funds raised will be transferred to Parkside Cafe and not Dykes personally. It also said that efforts were on to clarify how the cafe would use the funds raised on their behalf.
Dykes wanted to raise prices at bar as 'protest tax'
Dykes, owner of Parkside Cafe, made his remarks on Floyd and the protesters in a text message to a co-worker which got leaked on social media later and three employees quit as a consequence. It also led to outrage online with demands pouring in to boycott the restaurant. Dykes said his Avondale bar should increase the price of everything till June 10 as a “protest tax” as the protests prevented them from opening the business in the normal hours. He also said that the bar’s employees who went to join the protests should resign.
Dykes, a white, though said later that he regretted his words, yet it was found to be unconvincing by many since the man also said that his reaction was partly prompted by Owens’s own controversial take on Floyd last week. On more than one occasion, the 31-year-old conservative slammed Floyd asking whether seeing the man with a tainted past as a hero was apt. She said it first in a video posted on social media platforms and then during a radio show with conservative commentator Glenn Beck. Owens said in the show the fact that Floyd has been “held up as a martyr” sickens her. A video of the conversation posted by Bleck was retweeted by none other than President Donald Trump.
When Dykes was criticized for getting “inspired” by Owens’ words, the activist slammed the critics to say in a tweet: “Thank you for being a trash enough human being to let me know about the leftist mob attacking this business owner. I have now created a fundraiser for Michael Dykes.”