After raising some $205,000 to support Michael Dykes, the owner of Parkside Café, Owens was notified by GoFundMe that not only was the campaign being suspended, but also Owens' personal account. GoFundMe claimed that this campaign had to be suspended "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."
"Furthermore, the Parkside Café has clearly condemned the comments that initially led to this campaign," a statement from GoFundMe further reads.
The good news is that Dykes will be able to keep the $205,000 that was already raised in his support. The bad news is that GoFundMe is showing itself to be no better than Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, all of which reject free speech in favor of pandering to the leftist mob.
"At their discretion," Owens tweeted about GoFundMe, "they deemed that funds raised for a conservative business constitutes 'intolerance.' They WILL however give the funds raised thus far to the café..."
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GoFundMe says it's "working to clarify" how Parkside Café will use the money
The only reason why GoFundMe appears to have released the money at all is that it was specifically earmarked for the Parkside Café, and not Dykes personally. GoFundMe apparently agrees that the business itself should receive the cash, but says it is "working to clarify how Parkside Café will use the funds raised on their behalf."
Back in the fall, we reported that GoFundMe was busy censoring and removing fundraisers for vaccine-choice causes, accusing them of spreading "misinformation" and "conspiracy theories."
At the time, GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne publicly stated that any questioning of vaccine safety or effectiveness on his company's platform would not be tolerated. All fundraisers towards this end "violate GoFundMe's terms of service and will be removed from the platform," he indicated.
It appears as though these violations now extend to the free speech rights of those who refuse to worship George Floyd as some kind of black hero. Unless you are willing to march in the streets and burn down businesses in Floyd's honor, then GoFundMe considers you to be in "violation" of its standards, and unworthy to receive money from people who want to give it to you.
Keep in mind that all Dykes did was express anger over the fact that the protests in Floyd's honor were interfering with his business opening. He also never suggested that Floyd deserved to die, and pointedly stated that while adding the caveat that "honoring a thug is irresponsible."
Nothing Dykes wrote was factually incorrect. And all he did was couple the facts with his own frustration about the lunacy of all this "protesting," which in reality is a whole lot of violence, rioting, and looting, as the nation has undeniably witnessed.
But facts apparently do not abide by GoFundMe's Terms of Service, and thus are not tolerated. This is worth remembering the next time you or someone you know considers starting an online fundraiser.
To keep up with the latest news about Big Tech censorship, be sure to check out Censorship.news.
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