Shaun King has responded to accusations of stealing funds from families who’ve been victims of police brutality. Among the accusers is Tamir Rice’s mother Samaria Rice. In June, she took to Instagram to say Shaun was robbing her “for the death of [her] son” by raising money in Tamir’s name without her permission. About two months later, Shaun has released alleged documentation from GoFundMe in hopes to clear his name.
“I bet this won’t go viral,” Shaun wrote in the post caption. “The truth never does. It should, but people prefer lies.”
Again, the lies he’s specifically referring to are accusations of stealing fundraised money from families. Shaun wrote in his caption that GoFundMe allegedly searched through his history on the for-profit crowdfunding platform. The investigation included looking through 10+ years of history, every email account “associated with any possible activity” and all the fundraisers he’s shared to socials. The deep dive investigation produced an official statement.
“Mr. King has not organized a fundraiser on GoFundMe,” GoFundMe’s letter said. “Mr. King has not been the beneficiary of a GoFundMe. Mr. King has not withdrawn any funds on GoFundMe.”
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Shaun published an episode in June for his podcast ‘The Breakdown With Shaun King.’ He detailed speaking to Samaria Rice in the episode description and Samaria was not here for it.
“Why do you think it’s so important to tell folks we had a conversation,” Samaria wrote in a stacked Instagram post. “Well we talked and everything that was said was very toxic and uncomfortable for me to hear that you raised additional money.”
She also accused him of being a “white man acting black” who cannot be “trusted.” Her comments quickly sent Shaun’s name into trending status on socials. The next day the activist fired back at Samaria by sharing the Twitter-based testimony of a third party who said she witnessed the interaction between Shaun and Samaria. The woman, who went by Nicole, said Shaun was “sweet from start to finish.”
“On God, Shaun King was over the top respectful to Samaria Rice and her staff from the moment the call started until it ended,” Nicole wrote. “He listened way more than he talked. But when he spoke he didn’t even say a single word that somebody would perceive to be harsh or toxic. Nothing.”
Shortly after, the internet turned on Shaun again. He was accused of faking Nicole’s account as an alternative way to clear his name. Self-proclaimed social media investigators noticed that the Twitter account disappeared after Shaun shared the thread. They raised doubts by pointing out the account’s profile picture, which featured a deceased Ohio rapper named Boog the Bandit. They also noted similarities between Shaun’s manner of speaking and the tweets in the thread.
“I’ve had people literally interrupt my speeches and even stop me in the street while I’ve been with my family to confront me over stealing funds from GoFundMe,” Shaun wrote under his GoFundMe post. “I’ve received death threats over people confronting me about this. And it’s never happened. Stealing ONE PENNY from a family would be a state and federal crime. ”
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