Shiloh Hendricks Fundraiser Takes Lead Over Karmelo Anthony Amidst GiveSendGo Comment Controversy
Major updates this week on the GiveSendGo platform show a shifting landscape in two high-profile fundraising campaigns. Shiloh Hendricks’ fundraiser, “Help Me Protect My Family,” has now surpassed the official Karmelo Anthony fund by the Anthony family. As of our recording, Shiloh’s campaign had raised an impressive $528,000 towards a $1 million goal, while Karmelo’s fund, supporting a black teen involved in a controversial stabbing, stood at $520,636 towards a $600,000 goal. Shiloh’s campaign raised $7,584 more than Karmelo’s in what appears to be record time.
While this update shows a change in the fundraising totals, we believe it might speak to a general fatigue or malaise among donors, rather than reflecting solely on priorities. We also think that if Karmelo Anthony hadn’t raised nearly $600,000, Shiloh wouldn’t have raised anywhere near this amount either.
However, recent actions by the fundraising platform itself have become a significant point of discussion and disagreement for us. The founder of GiveSendGo, Jacob Wells, recently made comparisons between the case of Karmelo Anthony, a 17-year-old who took another student’s life, to those of Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny. Wells reportedly said the incident was similar to these other high-profile cases, which were also kicked off other platforms like GoFundMe. We strongly disagree with this comparison. The literal only similarity between the Karmelo Anthony case and the Kyle Rittenhouse or Daniel Penny cases is that they were potentially banned from GoFundMe. Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny’s actions were very clearly self-defense, and it’s not even up for debate. Karmelo Anthony, conversely, admitted to taking someone’s life, and according to the source cited, it was not self-defense. While Wells stated that both Anthony and Rittenhouse should be tried in a court of law rather than public opinion, a point we agree with, comparing the cases themselves seems inappropriate.
In a very odd move for the company, GiveSendGo has now turned off comments on both the Shiloh Hendricks and Karmelo Anthony fundraising pages. According to GiveSendGo, they disabled comments due to an “unacceptable volume of racist and derogatory remarks” on both campaigns. They stated they condemn hateful comments and sought to stop the spread of divisive rhetoric while ensuring funds reach recipients. At the time comments were turned off, both campaigns had raised about $150,000 with 15,000 donors each.
This decision is something we strongly disagree with. Our criticism for Jacob Wells is this: GiveSendGo never turned off the comments on the Karmelo Anthony fundraiser for the past three weeks. During that time, there were dozens and dozens of comments celebrating the fact that he took the life of a white person, and GiveSendGo had no problem with those comments. Now, when there were comments about race on Shiloh Hendrick’s fundraiser, suddenly the comments had to be turned off. While we understand the business perspective to avoid getting smeared, we don’t support this action because it appears inconsistent. If you’re going to allow comments like “you gave good for you, you gave it to Whitey” for one campaign, but then turn them off when similar comments about black people appear on another, it looks bad and we think it will fuel issues. We disavow racist comments from any side. Donors, even those giving just $5, are entitled to leave a message.
Some believe this move to turn off comments could hurt fundraising efforts. Comments had been allowed on Karmelo’s campaign until now, despite “death to white people” comments being present. There’s speculation that financial institutions or payment processors might have influenced this decision, pushing GiveSendGo to find compromises. If that were the case, we think it would be helpful for GiveSendGo to state that publicly.
Separately, regarding Shiloh Hendricks’ fundraiser, she initially set her goal at $100,000, then raised it to $500,000 or several hundred thousand, and has now raised it to a million. While she should absolutely get every penny people want to give her, we feel that $551,000 is plenty, and the point has been made and received. We don’t believe she needs a million dollars; she has half a million in cash. There are other people who will need support. We’re not criticizing the money she raised, but simply commenting that perhaps enough is enough. It’s pretty funny that her campaign passed Karmelo’s; mission accomplished in that sense.
While we still support GiveSendGo as a platform, especially compared to others like GoFundMe which have been less free speech-friendly, we do not support this specific move to disable comments, particularly given the apparent double standard. We intend to communicate our feedback directly.
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