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Mos Theft Shaun King is once again making headlines over allegations of seemingly shady behavior.

Celebrities Visit SiriusXM - September 4, 2019

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King’s movements have been raising eyebrows for years even as celebs applaud him for utilizing his platform to amplify reporting on the unjust murders of Black men and women across the country. As The Daily Beast pointed out, despite his actions for BLM, there are seemingly some discrepancies especially when it comes to money and especially surrounding his failed relaunch of The North Star newspaper.

The discrepancies have caused people to label him a “fraud”, and a “grifter” and they sparked that loooong laundry list of nicknames. People have also accused him of “profiting off of black pain.”

The announcement of the new crowdfunding campaign revived rumors that have swirled on social media since it first launched that The North Star is more of a money-making maneuver than the “fully independent, unbought, unbossed media company focused on freedom” King had promised.

It has also fueled long-standing accusations—primarily lodged by black women and queer folks, nearly all of whom are his former co-organizers, colleagues, employees, and supporters—that King has inflatedmismanaged, or failed to account for funds he’s raised for various social-justice causes.

While it should be noted that no criminal or civil charges have ever been filed against King, the story—in the words of former employees of The North Star—was one of “self sabotage” by him, and “really shady f****g business” with “a liar & a fraud.”

With that in mind, it’s easy to see why an email from “Hueless P. Newton” following the death of Chadwick Boseman has people on edge.

After the awful news broke that the 43-year-old actor passed away from colon cancer, emails from Shaun King went out. “Pale Revere” was trending on Saturday after @VeryWhiteGuy posted screenshots of an email from King asking for followers to buy his book “Make Change.” In the email, King started off by noting Boseman’s passing, then went on to talk about Black Lives Matter and then ended with a note that his book is available for purchase.

“I hope you are hanging in there. Yesterday I sent an email checking in on everybody – and just a few hours later we learned of the death of Chadwick Boseman,” read the email. “Life is so very fragile. Tomorrow is not promised,” King wrote in the email, before transitioning to the topic of the history of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“And for all 6 years, everywhere I go, people ask me, ‘Shaun, how do I actually use my life, my skills, my time, my energy to impact and change the world?’” he went on. “My book, MAKE CHANGE, is a 272 page answer to that question.”

According to Shaun King himself, there’s nothing shady afoot. He’s been promoting his book which he “doesn’t’ make a penny off”, had an email scheduled to go out and he updated it to acknowledge Chadwick’s death. He regrets nothing.

 

“I literally do not make a penny off of sales for my book. Nothing. Got paid a year ago to write it,” he tweeted. “I had a mass email pre-scheduled to go out this morning about my book. I updated the email to also mention the death of Chadwick. And I don’t regret it. At all. There’s that.”

 

Still despite the explanation, people are pointing out that while Shaun might not be directly profiting off the book right now, he certainly can in the future. Also, can we note that the email was just plain tacky, poorly timed and in poor taste?

Not only that, but others are also pointing out that he previously criticized Hillary Clinton for an email where she brought up the death of Charlottesville protestor Heather Heyer.

Pot meet kettle???

Also, some are sharing another email he sent out and accused him of profiting off the death of Breonna Taylor. After noting that he’s in Louisville, Kentucky where the unarmed EMT was killed, King wrote;

“I need your help. Please consider chipping in here today on ANY level!” while noting that the money would be used to find a “brilliant cohost”, allegedly for his podcast.

What do YOU think about Shaun King’s email in the wake of Chadwick Boseman’s passing???

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