Source: Scott Eisen / Getty
Shaun King became one of social media’s most visible voices as it relates to the struggles of Black people in America due to his relentless pursuit of justice and truth. That same tenacity culminated into King’s ability to raise funds at a rapid clip but the author and activist once again is under fire for allegedly misusing funds intended for an ambitious media project.
The Daily Beast published a story of the weekend that examined King and journalist Benjamin Dixon’s plan to relaunch The North Star, a newspaper originally stared by the late abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. According to the reporting done by Kali Holloway, King’s failures of relaunching the paper in the year and more after the plan was announced was an ability to handle the responsibilities if King’s quotes ring true.
“When we launched The North Star, virtually every advisor I had insisted that we should not do written articles, podcasts, and video news at the same time,” King said to the reporter back in April. “I just knew we could do it. They were right.”
Despite the transparency surrounding his failure to get the paper up and running, his statement did little to explain why the paper’s television studio and headquarters were closed down nor did it effectively reveal why King laid off all Atlanta-based staffers at The North Star. With the accounts of seven former employees of King, including three who chose to speak off the record, the views of the staffers paint a damning picture of alleged mismanagement and, simply put, an inability to handle the duties of a publisher.
The piece is packed with accounts from the former staffers, activists that worked in some fashion with King such as DeRay McKesson, and accounts from other observers and critics alike.
Across Twitter, King’s name has been trending since the publishing of the article and has garnered a public response from King himself.
“Literally at the airport rushing to be with my mother, who is in the hospital in Atlanta, and just now seeing that I am trending, again, here on Twitter. I’ll reply when I can. So much blatant misinformation,” King tweeted on Tuesday morning (May 26).
We’ve gathered some of the reactions under the Shaun King trending topic on Twitter below.
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Photo: Getty
Shaun King Blasted Again For Allegedly Misusing Funds, Alabaster Ali Gets Exquisite Twitter Dragging was originally published on hiphopwired.com
1.
One of these stories drops basically once a year on King, and somehow nobody outside of twitter pays attention. This is the second Daily Beast joint alone. This is beyond “where there’s smoke”... we’ve seen multiple fires! What is it gonna take? https://t.co/m0jAWhjLPS
— Naima Cochrane (@naima) May 26, 2020
2.
No shade to Bernie, but palling around with Joe Rogan, Briahna Gray, and Shaun King tells you a lot about his judgment.
— Brother Nyght (@wondermann5) May 26, 2020
3.
Shaun King is running a long con & this is just the tip of the iceberg.
— deray (@deray) May 26, 2020
At the very least, he needs to:
1. Immediately & publicly release all former North Star staff from NDAs w/ no penalty.
2. Stop soliciting funds altogether, immediately.
[thread]https://t.co/hN4ZiNyJvT
4.
Quite a quote from @AngryBlackLady: "There are also white liberals who want someone or something they can give their money to...He makes white folk feel safe because he doesn't ask anything of them besides giving money—he sells wokeness to white people.” https://t.co/r8QGRoMCRJ
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) May 26, 2020
5.
6.
W.E.B. DeFraud promised in Nov. 2018: “a full news website, iPhone & Android apps, 4 new podcasts, & online news broadcasts.”
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) May 26, 2020
A year later none of it has surfaced, the HQ has been shut down, and all Atlanta staffers laid off.
cc:@shaunking
https://t.co/feKIRxllCh
7.
Whether it's Shaun King or someone else, the lesson is always the same: never trust any liberal pundit who likes to dishonestly attack the Democratic Party. It's a cheap attempt at establishing faux-credibility, and it's always a cover for something sinister. Always.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) May 26, 2020
8.
Before you created your Twitter account…
— Hotep Jesus (@HotepJesus) May 26, 2020
Before Trump decided to run for president…
We exposed Shaun King. https://t.co/lFhuZX61lR
9.
In honor of Shaun King being exposed, yet again, as a serial fraud (how many stories do they need to run before people stop sharing his shit?!), I’d like to remind everyone to support a brilliant, insightful, and most importantly, *transparent* truth teller, @BenjaminPDixon!
— guillotines n’ roses (taheerah barney) (@fleshandbrand) May 26, 2020
10.
Shaun King has his own bots. Lol.
— ⚖️Imani Gandy ⚖️ (@AngryBlackLady) May 26, 2020
Ostensibly Black women in my mentions talking about God Bless Shaun King.
Come on, now. Give me a break.
11.
The Shaun King thing should have been over after this. https://t.co/zbhJb3nPeo
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) May 26, 2020
12.
took *three* days off twitter with the long weekend instead of my usual two, log back on and the trending moments are nothing but trash - racist woman in Central Park and that fraud Shaun King.
— shalise manza young (@shalisemyoung) May 26, 2020
good times.
13.
Shaun King finessed over $30 million pretending to be an activist?? pic.twitter.com/m53HInPrNK
— Jonathan 🇭🇹🇨🇦 (@Hiro_theKid) May 26, 2020
14.
have doja cat and shaun king taken a photo together yet?
— Da’Shaun | they/them (@DaShaunLH) May 25, 2020