Hours after President Donald Trump declared Saturday night to be “MAGA Night” at the White House, Chrissy Teigen mocked POTUS by saying she’d mark the occasion by donating $200,000 to bail out people who have been arrested while protesting the death of George Floyd.
“In celebration of whatever the f–k maga night is, I am committed to donating $100,000 to the bail outs of protestors across the country,” Teigen tweeted Saturday afternoon.
Just a few minutes later, after one user commented “Rioters and criminals*” on her initial tweet, Teigen upped her pledge: “Ooo they might need more money then. Make it $200,000.”
The model and cookbook author was responding to Trump’s Saturday morning tweet regarding the Friday protests outside the White House, in which he seemingly also invited his own supporters to gather for “MAGA Night.”
“The professionally managed so-called ‘protesters’ at the White House had little to do with the memory of George Floyd,” Trump wrote. “They were just there to cause trouble. The @SecretService handled them easily. Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???”
Following that tweet, a White House reporter asked Trump if he was concerned his tweet “might be stoking more racial violence or more racial discord.”
“No, no, not at all. MAGA says Make America Great Again — these are people that love our country,” Trump responded. “I have no idea if they are going to be here. I was just asking, but I have no idea if they’re going to be here. But MAGA is ‘Make America Great Again.’ By the way, they love African American people, they love black people. MAGA loves the black people.”
Floyd, a black man, was arrested by Minneapolis police Monday after an employee at a convenience store called authorities to say he suspected Floyd of passing a counterfeit $20 bill.
During Floyd’s arrest, white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, an act that was caught on video by a bystander. In the clip, Floyd can be heard asking officers to let him breathe but is not shown to be resisting. Paramedics were called to the scene, where they found Floyd to be unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead.
Chauvin has since been fired by the Minneapolis police, arrested and charged with third-degree murder in connection to Floyd’s death. The three other officers who were involved in Floyd’s arrest have not been arrested or charged, though they were also fired.
Protests in response to Floyd’s death have broken out this week in Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta, among other cities across the United States.
Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, with the Los Angeles Police Department declaring the city’s Friday protests an “unlawful assembly” after clashes between protestors and police. More than 500 people were arrested during the demonstrations last night, with charges ranging from battery on police to looting.
On Saturday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced that the state’s National Guard has been “fully” mobilized in response to the demonstrations, which he says have turned into “wanton destruction and chaos” and “made a mockery” of Floyd’s death.
See Teigen and Trump’s tweets below.
In celebration of whatever the fuck maga night is, I am committed to donating $100,000 to the bail outs of protestors across the country.
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 30, 2020
Ooo they might need more money then. Make it $200,000 https://t.co/axuJnazJkU
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 30, 2020
The professionally managed so-called “protesters” at the White House had little to do with the memory of George Floyd. They were just there to cause trouble. The @SecretService handled them easily. Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2020