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Shaun King Trends On Twitter After Samaria Rice Calls Him Out For Fundraising Money In Tamir Rice’s Name

Shaun King was trending on Twitter early Wednesday, after Samaria Rice let him have it in a lengthy Instagram post. Samaria wrote two paragraphs accusing the well-known activist of robbing her “for the death of [her] son” by raising money in Tamir Rice’s name without her permission. The post, published Tuesday evening, came after Shaun released an episode for his podcast ‘The Breakdown With Shaun King’ about their conversation.

“Why do you think it’s so important to tell folks we had a conversation,” Samaria wrote. “Well we talked and everything that was said was very toxic and uncomfortable for me to hear that you raised additional money.”

Samaria also revealed that she never gave Shaun permission to raise the funds. She alleges that his reasoning for not requesting permission or telling her about the fundraising was because he did not want to “bother” her.

“Along with the United States, you robbed me for the death of my son,” Samaria wrote.

She continues on to accuse Shaun of being a “white man acting black” who cannot be “trusted.” Shaun, on the other hand, painted their chat in a completely different light saying it was much-needed.”

“I learned a lot,” the podcast description says. “Listened a lot. Shared my heart. And pledged we would continue to fight to get justice and accountability for Tamir.”

As of Wednesday, the episode is not functional on Shauns website, The North Star, or available on other streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts.

As previously reported, the Department of Justice has declined to charge the two Cleveland police officers, named Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, involved in Tamir’s death. The department said the video of the shooting was too poor in quality to determine what exactly happened to Tamir.

Tamir’s story went viral after people learned that the 12-year-old was shot and killed by Timothy and Frank while playing outside with a pellet gun in 2014.

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Cassandra Santiago

Cassandra Santiago is a multimedia journalist, editor, and editorial strategist with over a decade of experience shaping conversations across arts, entertainment, culture, and global news. A graduate of the University of Iowa, she has built a cross-platform career spanning newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital media. She joined The Shade Room five years ago and currently serves as a Senior Editor, where she leads editorial direction, oversees exclusive coverage, and trains and edits a team of writers. Cassandra has played a key role in developing high-impact content and editorial strategies for an audience of more than 30 million, contributing to platform growth, engagement, and monetization across multiple channels. In addition to her leadership role, she remains a daily contributor, with her articles generating more than 41 million views since 2023. Beyond The Shade Room, Cassandra offers freelance social media strategy services, speaks on the influence and impact of Black media at public panels, and owns Did It For You, an event design company in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. She is Poynter Institute–certified and was named to the DMV’s 35 Under 35 list in 2024.

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