Social activist and social media presence Shaun King has been ‘cancelled’ by Twitter users, but he’s claimed he won’t be.
Shaun King found himself angering social media users after posting an article on Samaria Rice, the mother of the late Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was shot dead by police in 2014. The article was posted to Shaun’s media publication The North Star, and called ‘Understanding the pain, grief, and fury of Samaria Rice’.
The text discussed his views on Samaria’s social media post disapproving of Tamika’s spoken-word performance at the Grammys on police brutality. In later interviews, Samaria expanded that she felt people were “benefitting off the blood” of families who have lost loved ones.
However, many felt the article was inappropriate and often times dubbed it “patronising” calling for Shaun King to be ‘cancelled’. Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images
Shaun King responded to being ‘cancelled’
Taking to Twitter, Shaun King responded to criticism of his article with two tweets on the matter.
“If you’ve actually taken the time to read this piece on Samaria Rice, you’ll know that it’s a defence of her pain and frustration, not a protest of it. Never that,” he wrote in response to criticism.
That tweet was shortly followed by another directly addressing him being ‘cancelled’ online: “People truly struggle to understand how them cancelling me didn’t actually lead to me being cancelled. It’s 2 things, really… 1. You can only cancel me for yourself. 2. Being obsessed with my every move is not really canceling me. It’s quite the opposite.”
People truly struggle to understand how them cancelling me didn’t actually lead to me being cancelled.
Samaria Rice released a statement
Writer Rebecca A. Wilcox shared a statement from a conference call with Samaria Rice and Lisa Simpson, mother of Richard Risher.
“Tamika D. Mallory, Shaun King, Benjamin Crump, Lee Merritt, Patrisse Cullors, Melina Abdullah and the Black Lives Matter Global Network need to step down, stand back and stop monopolizing and capitalizing our fight for justice and human rights. We never hired them to be the representatives in the fight for justice for our dead loved ones murdered by the police,” reads the start of the statement.
The full statement can be seen in the thread below.
Their direct demands are as follows: