GiveSendGo founder Jacob Wells has come under fire for platforming Karmelo Anthony, whose family has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars on the platform after Anthony allegedly stabbed and killed Austin Metcalf.
While the entire story of what really happened has yet to be told, Wells has defended his decision to platform Anthony from a position of Christian and conservative values.
“I’m sure you’re familiar with Kyle Rittenhouse,” Wells tells Jason Whitlock on “Jason Whitlock Harmony.” “When his campaign was kicked off of GoFundMe and every other platform, all the other crowdfunding platforms, Facebook shutting it down, whatever — it landed on our platform.”
“We saw massive amounts of hate from the left at that moment, massive amounts of information, misinformation, being posted throughout the media about the situation. And we said, ‘Well, you know what, there’s actually a principle here that people ought to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, not public opinion,’” Wells explains.
“It’s a biblical position,” he continues. “So we allowed that campaign. And then that kind of opened up the door where people said, ‘Well, here’s a platform that’s just not canceling people whenever, like GoFundMe has been and still does,’” he continues.
This reputation the platform has gained has attracted people who wanted to help people like the truckers in Canada and Daniel Penny.
“Daniel Penny’s campaign was another big one,” he says. “We’ve had many, many, legal defense funds for people that were accused of violent crimes, accused of murdering people by the prosecution.”
“And so we said, ‘You know what, this principle of presumption of innocence and not ruled by mobs really ought to be preserved in difficult circumstances,’ and that led us to where we are now,” he continues, noting that Karmelo Anthony’s family did not even start the campaign for him; it was someone else.
This was the same for Kyle Rittenhouse, as a stranger set up his GiveSendGo.
“So the Anthony family took over the campaign, and then in the process, a lot of fake news came out, as it does around all of these high-profile events, about the spending of funds, the use of funds being used for things like buying a Cadillac — fake news, not true — buying a house — fake news, not true — lots of fake news and a lot of racial tension narrative around it,” he explains.
“Pull race out of it; what the right really should be doing — and I would consider myself one, conservative, Christian, went to school to be a pastor, love people, understand that Jesus died for the worst of the worst, including myself,” he continues, “The right as being principled people ought to be saying, and this is what I didn’t see, is that ‘This is a horrible situation.’”
“The facts don’t look good for Karmelo Anthony, according to what we’ve seen so far,” he says, “But he ought to be given the same affording that was afforded to Daniel Penny and Kyle Rittenhouse.”
“Because as you begin to erode the principle for anyone, you begin to erode it for everyone,” he adds.
Want more from Jason Whitlock?
To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Read the full article here
