Chrissy Teigen, Seth Rogan, and many other celebrities have donated money to bail out protesters arrested during a nationwide demonstration over the death of the 47-year-old George Floyd, an African American from Minneapolis.
The 34-year-old American model Teigen said she decided to make a $100,000 donation after U.S. President Donald Trump declared Saturday night was "MAGA night" at the White House and threatened the demonstrators with "vicious dogs" and "ominous weapons" if they had breached the fence outside the 'President's Palace.' She took it to Twitter and wrote that "In celebration of whatever the f*** maga night is, I am committed to donating $100,000 to the bailouts of protestors across the country."
Protests for Justice Not fun
The President had condemned the protesters in a tweet on Saturday morning, saying that they were "professionally managed" and had "little to do with the memory of George Floyd." In a Twitter thread, he also mentioned that "Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???" but did not bother to mention what that meant.
The wife of American singer and songwriter John Legend, Teigen who is also a cookbook author, later increased the amount of her donation to $200,000 in response to a tweet, which was deleted after few hours, as the user mentioned "rioters and criminals" in the tweet, addressing the protesters.
Celebrities Unite to Back the Protesters
A wave of celebrities also revealed that they have donated funds to help bail out protesters over the past few days. One of them is actor and comedian Seth Rogan, who tweeted a chain of donations saying he had "matched" a contribution and "then much more" to the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF), a nonprofit which pays bail for those who would not be able to afford the bail amount.
Other celebrities, including Don Cheadle, Steve Carrell, and Patton Oswalt, shared the chain adding that they had also "matched" a donation, while Rapper Noname, said she had donated $1,000 to the fund. It should be noted that James Blake, Jameela Jamil, Yara Shahidi, and Janelle Monáe were among the famous people who said they had matched Noname's donation.
Author Padma Lakshmi wrote on Twitter on Friday that Minneapolis police were "arresting Black journalists and killing Black people for simply existing, while the leader of our government tweets: 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts,' baiting a race war. This is America in 2020."
She also posted a link to the Minnesota Freedom Fund and mentioned that "Here's how you can help as an ally right now. Put your anger, grief, and sadness into action and help to pay bail for arrested protesters."
Avengers' star Mark Ruffalo also urged his followers on Twitter to donate to the nonprofit, while saying that "they're combating the harms of incarceration by paying bail for low-income individuals who cannot otherwise afford it."
Apart from the celebrities, at least 13 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden campaign staff members posted on Twitter on Friday and Saturday that they made donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to Reuters that the former U.S. vice president opposes the institution of cash bail as a "modern-day debtors prison."
