Shaun King slammed for 'scam' coronavirus fundraiser after targetting Hawaii Democrat Senator over Medicare
While Shaun King gained prominence for being a Black Lives Matter activist since the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, he has been trending on social media for all the wrong reasons this year. First, it was for his "fundraiser" which has been called a scam by many, then for his tweet targetting a Democratic Senator.
In January 2019, King was called out on Twitter after he threatened to sue another activist, Clarissa Brooks, for allegedly lying about him on the social media platform. Brooks tweeted on January 7th, “Are folks going to hold Shaun King accountable to money he ‘raised’ for Cyntoia? Or is that going to disappear as well…” Brooks deleted the tweet after she read King was suing people for tweeting about him.
Earlier this year, King was called to task after he made misleading claims that MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow reported that “multiple ‘senior officials’” within the Democratic Party are interfering with the primaries to stop @BernieSanders.” Maddow tweeted King back directly, stating she “didn’t report any such thing.”
Now, after Brian Schatz, a United States Senator from Hawaii tweeted, "We are seeing preventable mass deaths in the United States," King asked in a now-deleted tweet, "Do you support Medicare For All right now?" Schatz responded, tweeting, "I don't know why you are tweeting this like some sort of gotcha but I am a cosponsor of the bill."
Users called out the activist on Twitter, with one tweeting, "Never has an engagement more perfectly captured who Shaun King is than this." Another wrote, "@shaunking does it ever get old being the laughing stock of the entire USA. Like everyone dunks on you and I personally find it very entertaining."
However, there is another reason as to why King is trending.
Organizer Leslie Mac, who co-founded the Ferguson Response Network and co-created the Safety Pin Box subscription service, tweeted on Sunday discouraging people from contributing to King's C19 Help Squad.
This is not the first time King's fundraising initiatives have raised questions.
Last year, Goldie Taylor of the Daily Beast wrote, "Some of that money went to survivors or victims’ families, but much of the largess either went into failed projects, King’s own pockets, or is unaccounted for."
In September 2019, Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson wrote a lengthy article raising multiple concerns in regards to King, especially related to fundraising, writing, "If you take the total amount listed in the statement and match it against the numbers in the actual fundraisers that have been linked to, there are two different amounts."
One user tweeted, "Is Shaun king trending? The man who pretended like he was riding so hard for Nate Wood to stop his execution and soon after this man's death used it to promote and try to get people to pre-order his book? Someone cancel this Asshole."
Another wrote, "If Shaun King is doing something for a movement, that tells me that I should social distance myself from that movement." One user tweeted, "Every Shaun King fundraiser is a scam. Why would this be any different?"
King responded to the claims, tweeting, "Seeing people saying I have a fraudulent fundraiser for coronavirus victims. I literally don’t have a fundraiser. We haven’t raised a single penny."
To this, a user responded, "One part says “Give Help” and is asking people if they can help with rent, etc. That Shaun is asking for money/donations/contributions whatever you want to call it. It is fundraising."
However, King replied, "It’s a mutual aid society. Volunteers who can give support give it directly to people in need. We never touch the money."
The Privacy Policy page for King's initiative, the 'C19 Help Squad', states that personal information of those who sign up will be used to "help connect you with other The Action PAC supporters, and to solicit donations, support and volunteers."