Politics
Murder Suspect's Family Launches Second Crowdfund After First $634K Somehow Ran Out
By BSN Staff, . BSN Network. Satire.
FRISCO, TX. The family of Karmelo Anthony, the Texas teenager charged with the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf in April, has launched a second crowdfunding campaign seeking $250,000 for legal expenses, approximately four months after a previous campaign on the same platform collected $633,765 and then became the subject of intense public scrutiny over how, exactly, that money was spent.
The new campaign describes itself as necessary. The previous campaign did not describe itself as finished.
For those keeping score at home, and at this point several people are keeping very detailed spreadsheets at home, the Anthony family has now publicly requested $884,000 in donated funds in connection with a legal case that, in most jurisdictions, would be handled by a single defense attorney billing hourly.
The original GiveSendGo campaign closed after raising more than six times its initial $100,000 goal, a result that organizers celebrated as a demonstration of community support. What the community was supporting, financially speaking, remained a matter of some discussion, as no formal accounting was ever released and questions about personal expenses, home upgrades, and vehicle purchases began circulating on social media with the particular energy that social media reserves for exactly this kind of situation.
A spokesperson for the family, reached for comment, said the funds were used for quote legitimate legal and family support needs, which is a sentence that contains the word legitimate, the word needs, and no numbers.
The new campaign has already attracted donations.
This is the part that will bother you if you let it, and you should probably let it a little bit, because what it reveals is not really about this family. What it reveals is that there is a reliable audience of people who will, given the correct framing, donate money to a cause they already donated money to, without any explanation of what happened to the first donation, because the framing is still in place and the button is still right there and clicking it still feels like doing something.
One donor on the new campaign wrote, quote, staying strong, we've got you. It is not clear what information this donor has that the general public does not.
Another wrote, quote, God bless this family, they've been through so much. The family has been through a public murder charge, two crowdfunding campaigns, and what sources describe as significant online attention. The victim's family has been through a funeral.
The Anthony family's attorney has not commented on the new campaign. The GiveSendGo platform, which describes itself as the number one Christian fundraising site, has also not commented, which is consistent with its general policy of not commenting on campaigns while they are actively collecting money.
The $250,000 goal, if reached, would bring total crowdfunded receipts for the Anthony family to approximately $884,000, a figure that represents, depending on your perspective, either extraordinary community generosity or a business model.
The trial has not yet been scheduled.
The story we are making fun of: https://www.foxnews.com/us/karmelo-anthony-seeks-250k-murder-appeal-questions-persist-familys-previous-634k-fundraiser