The second protests broke out after the murder of George Floyd, flocks of celebrities spoke with their wallets. Not for the victims’ families, or for any type of reform, however. No, these celebrities chose to immediately put piles of cash into a fund that would pay for the release of novel protestors who got arrested. Weren’t these supposed to be peaceful protests? Why would they be getting arrested?
Nonetheless, shocker of all shockers, hundreds of people have been arrested, but have not been the recipient of the celebs’ goodwill and support for chaos and disruption. Celebrities’ foundation of choice, the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) raised over $30 million since the death of George Floyd according to its website.
Justin Timberlake tweeted that he was donating to the MFF and asked others to join him because “the freedom fund is combating the harms of incarceration by paying bail for low-income individuals who cannot otherwise afford.” The Daily Wire reported other celebrities including Steve Carell, Seth Rogan, Janelle Monae, Ben Schwartz, and Don Cheadle also “chipped in $1,000 each for suspected criminal rioters in Minneapolis by donating to MFF.”
A lot of lives can be changed with $30 million. Except they haven’t. According to Newsweek, many online have “said that MFF had collected $35 million in donations in recent weeks and spent only a small fraction, prompting ’35 MILLION’ and ‘only 200k’ to start trending on Twitter.” You don’t have to be a mathematician to realize that $200,000 is a lot, lot less than $35 or even $30 million.
The organization’s sluggish response to helping protesters has not gone unnoticed. The MFF has faced “intense backlash over the bail-out charity’s allocation of funds and lack of transparency,” according to the Daily Wire. The foundation responded with a chill, laid back “don’t worry bro” attitude on Twitter.
The MFF’s official twitter account, @MNFreedomFund wrote, “appreciate all those calling for transparency. We see y’all. Our values and mission have not changed since 2016. Be on the lookout for things coming on our end. Be well.” Feel better? A follow-up tweet read, “without jeopardizing the safety of the folks we bailed out we paid well over $200k in the weeks since the uprising alone. We are working on doing more.”
