(NewsNation) —The head of controversial fundraising website GiveSendGo, which has hosted efforts by a woman who used a racial slur toward a child, says the website counters “cancel culture” by giving people the choice to give money to who they want.
Jacob Wells, co-founder and CFO of GiveSendGo, told NewsNation that controversial fundraising campaigns deserve a chance like all others.
“You have to take a step back from the emotion of these because they are very highly emotional issues and you land on a principle,” he said. “I believe in freedom of speech, freedom of association. These are foundational tenets to the society that we live in and when you start going down the road of cancellation and cancel culture, it actually breaks the very things that we see that we’re against,” he said.
The company has hosted a fundraising site for Shiloh Hendrix, who was allegedly caught on camera calling a child a racial slur on a playground.
On her GiveSendGo page, Hendrix wrote “I called the kid out for what he was.”
Minnesota mom raises over $700K after calling child racial slur
Hendrix has raised nearly $1 million for expenses she said are to “protect” her family from public outrage.
Wells defended Hendrix, saying her words were not “unprovoked” by the child.
“Shiloh is going to a dark moment, just as much as this other family is, and we want to be in all of these moments,” Wells said.
He also said the outrage over the racial slurs were “mob mentality,” which he said has “ruined so many people’s lives over the past several years.”
GiveSendGo has also hosted fundraising efforts by the family of Karmelo Anthony, a teen who allegedly fatally stabbed a high school athlete in Texas.
Karmelo Anthony’s rep says his family believes he’s innocent
The family is raising money for legal fees and housing costs and has already gotten more than $350,000 in donations.
“He deserves the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law, just like everyone does,” Wells said.
Wells said his company’s platform is free but that they make money by asking users to donate to them, as well.
