Trump Campaign, Hacked, Election, trump, Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

September 10, 2024

Donald Trump Back In Court Over Use Of ‘Electric Avenue’ Song In 2020 Campaign Video

Eddy Grant is battling it out with Donald Trump for including "Electric Avenue" in a 2020 campaign video.

Another day, another music artist coming after Donald Trump for unauthorized use of their song during his campaign.

This time around, Trump is locked in a court battle with singer Eddy Grant for including his 1983 hit “Electric Avenue” in an animated clip posted on Twitter in 2020 mocking his opponent, Joe Biden. Lawyers for Trump and Grant appeared for the 90-minute hearing where New York federal judge John G. Koeltl probed each side on what a jury would be allowed to decide if the four-year-old copyright case ever goes to trial, Deadline reported.

Trump argues that Grant never had the grounds to sue since he didn’t hold a proper copyright to the song at the time of filing suit. Grant registered “Electric Avenue” with the U.S. Copyright Office just last month.

The singer first filed the suit in response to Trump’s campaign video showing a Trump-branded freight train rumbling over Biden, who was riding in a slow-moving handcar. Grant accused Trump of using his song to spew “derogatory political rhetoric” that was “wicked” and caused him “considerable emotional distress.”

The singer initially sued Trump for $100 million for copyright infringement but has since lowered the amount to just $300,000 in damages. Trump’s lawyers argue that the use of “Electric Avenue” was considered fair use under U.S. copyright law, which allows for an “expressive” and “transformative” non-commercial form of political commentary to receive First Amendment protection.

Grant’s lawyers argue that he didn’t need to file a copyright on the 1983 release because he owns the copyright for a 2002 greatest-hits album that includes “Electric Avenue.”

“The defendants could have used any song, or no song at all, to convey their political message,” Grant’s lawyer said.

However, Trump’s lawyers claim Grant was improperly “bootstrapping” a copyright claim for the greatest-hits album. But Judge Koeltl didn’t agree.

“I don’t see the cases out there that say you can’t do this,” Koeltl said.

The hearing came three days after a federal judge in Atlanta removed Isaac Hayes’ classic R&B song “Hold On, I’m Coming” from Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign playlist. Other artists who have come at Trump for using their music in his presidential campaign include the Foo Fighters, ABBA, Celine Dion, Jack White, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, and the estate of Sinead O’Connor.

RELATED CONTENT: Isaac Hayes Estate Shuts Down Trump’s Usage of Song At Campaign Rallies, Cites ‘Character Issue’

US Vice President Kamala Harris, Alex Jones, Molly
by Sharelle B. McNair

September 10, 2024

Alex Jones Under Fire For Cheap Shot At VP Kamala Harris: ‘She’ll Be On Molly’ During Presidential Debate

The conspiracy theorist made the outrageous claim during a broadcast of his far-right "Infowars" podcast.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is under fire once again for his latest controversial claim, alleging that Vice President Kamala Harris will be on drugs during the presidential debate, reports TMZ.

During a broadcast of his “Infowars” show, Jones claimed that Harris would take hallucinogenic drugs before taking the stage on Sept. 10 during the debate against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. He specifically said Harris would be “bombed out of her gourd.”

“That’s the question, she gonna be all hopped out on some weird ecstasy…she might be on a hit of ecstasy,” Jones said. 

“She looked like that at the DNC. Big ol’ pupils…’ah feeling good.’ They’re gonna give her a molly. I’m dead serious.”  

The National Institute on Drug Abuse defines “molly” as a synthetic psychedelic drug that can mildly alter visual and time perception. It also can produce the feeling of being more energetic and alert while increasing well-being, warmth, and openness among other people. 

Jones predicted that Harris would fall “flat on her face” after falsely diagnosing her with having “serious performance anxiety” while referring to her “hiding” during an appearance on CNN in early September 2024. During that same appearance, the Trump ally projected the vice president was  “drunk and on Xanax.” “This is going to be insane,” he said, according to Raw Story. 

Jones is the mouthpiece behind similar false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting — that claimed the lives of 20 innocent children — never happened. As a result of his lies, the host was hit with a massive $1.5 billion civil judgment and is facing bankruptcy. Following the ruling, Jones’ legal representatives asked a judge to convert his Chapter 11 bankruptcy into a Chapter 7 liquidation, claiming the conspiracy theorist “believes there’s no reasonable prospect of a successful reorganization.”

As the clip made its way around social media, users started to push more legal troubles for Jones, hoping that he would be hit with defamation over the claims about drugs. “That’s defamation, but I understand he’s in desperate need of money to bail himself out,” @jaconincambodia wrote on X. 

@robhardyjr laughed at the performance anxiety claims as Harris spends her time talking to people for long periods of time. “Performance anxiety? From a former District Attorney, Attorney General, U.S. Senator, and current VP?” he asked. 

“Like Trump, these idiots seemingly blurt out factless and baseless nonsense to the masses because they know their supporters thrive off of factless and baseless nonsense. Go figure!”

RELATED CONTENT: Alex Jones’ Mouth Wrote a Check His A** Can’t Cash After Jury Awards Nearly $1B to Sandy Hook Families

Diddy, college days, howard
by Mitti Hicks

September 10, 2024

Diddy Selling Beverly Hills Mansion Raided By Homeland Security

It can be yours for $61 million.

Diddy is selling his Beverly Hills mansion that Homeland Security raided as a part of a sex trafficking investigation in March. The asking price: $61 million.

According to Page Six, the 13,000 square foot home hit the market on Sunday in the Platinum Triangle in Los Angeles. This area includes some of the most expensive neighborhoods in L.A., including Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills, and Bel Air.

The home is on “Billionaire’s Row,” home to Kylie Jenner, fashion icon Alexandra Von Furstenberg, and many others.

Diddy reportedly purchased the two-story mansion in 2014 for an estimated $39.5 million. It sits on 1.3 acres.

According to Realtor.com, the property is described in its listing as one of the area’s “most spectacular and beautiful estates.” The home has 10 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, and such amenities as a bar, a wine cellar, and an indoor sauna.

Even more impressive is the state-of-the-art theatre, which can accommodate 35 people. The property also includes a two-story guest house, a spa building with a beauty salon.

While there’s no word why the music mogul is selling the home, it could be a signal of some trouble for Diddy, who, in addition to the investigation, has had a mountain of legal woes after several civil lawsuits were filed against the rapper, per NBC News. At least four women and one accused him of rape and unwanted sexual contact.

In March, federal agents executed searches of Diddy’s properties, where they reportedly seized guns and electronics.  

While Diddy denied the allegations and has not been charged by federal authorities, he settled with his former romantic partner Cassie (real name Casandra Ventura) for $30 million. In a lawsuit filed against her ex-lover, she accused Diddy of rape and sexual and physical abuse. 

Then, in May, security video obtained by CNN appeared to show Diddy assaulting Cassie at a hotel in 2016. Following the allegations against him, Diddy lost several deals, including a Hulu reality show. Peloton stopped using his music and he had to return his key to New York City.

Voting, Alabama, redrawn map, congressional district
by Daniel Johnson

September 10, 2024

Alabama’s Redrawn 2nd Congressional District Sparks Spirited Contest

Congressional candidates Democrat Shomari Figures and Republican Caroleene Dobson are battling for the district's seat.

After the Supreme Court ruled that Alabama’s Second Congressional District had to be redrawn due to concerns that the state’s Republican Party had diluted the voting power of Black residents there, a spirited contest is now taking shape in the district that includes Tuskegee, the home of venerable HBCU Tuskegee College. 

According to the Associated Press, Democrat Shomari Figures, a former top aide to Attorney General Merrick Garland and a member of the Obama White House staff, and Republican Caroleene Dobson, a real estate attorney and newcomer to the political scene, are battling for the congressional district’s seat. 

Although the district leans Democratic, Republicans familiar with the contest say that the race is actually going to be a battle. According to the non-partisan Cook Report, the district is listed as one that is likely Democratic.

Figures and Dobson are both lawyers under the age of 40 with young children and Alabama natives who spent some time away from the state before returning. That’s where the similarities end for the candidates.

Figures is running a largely progressive platform and has recently called for Alabama to expand Medicaid, for the state to adequately support public education, for investment in a flagging infrastructure system, and has cited a need for an effort to keep Alabama’s hospitals from closing. 

Dobson, who has identified herself as a Trump Republican, has positions that closely align with the former president. She has a flair for tying immigration and crime together, just as Trump does at every opportunity. 

According to the Alabama Reflector, Figures has focused his race squarely on issues inside Alabama’s borders.

“This race has always been about the people and places that call our community home,” Figures said in a statement released to the outlet shortly after he won the runoff election in April. “It’s about our teachers, public service workers, people in uniform, our seniors, and the children of our district. To all of those who have placed their trust and confidence in me, thank you. Now, we move forward with a unified party and mission to win in November.”

Figures also said in April that he wanted to help teachers in Alabama, “We have teachers here that devote their lives, their time, their energy, their hearts and their careers, to educating the future workers of this state, and we have not been there for our teachers in the way that we need to be.”

In the statement, he turned his attention toward rural areas and poverty.

“To many of our communities in this district, they just don’t have that luxury and so those communities need the federal government to be there for them and so that’s what I want to focus on,” Figures said. “The poverty conditions faced by a kid in Castleberry, Alabama, is different than what it looks like for a kid in Montgomery, Alabama, or Mobile, Alabama. We can’t just suck the resources, the beneficial resources out of our rural communities without reinvesting in those communities to make them more economically viable and addressing their unique challenges as a whole.”

RELATED CONTENT: New Candidates Selected For Alabama’s New Congressional District 

Houston White, Camdentown Flats Project, North Minneapolis. Aspirational Housing
by Shanique Yates

September 10, 2024

Entrepreneur Transforming North Minneapolis Through Aspirational Housing And Community Building

Houston White discusses desire to uplift his North Minneapolis community through his Camdentown Flats housing development.

Houston White was first bitten by the entrepreneur bug at age seven when he noticed his cousin making money from tasks like cutting the grass and washing cars. Today, as a successful businessman, the Midwest native is on a mission to pour back into the community through his Camdentown Flats housing development property.

During his childhood, White’s home city of Minneapolis was once considered the murder capital of the U.S., with some even nicknaming it Murderapolis during the mid-1990s. While many young people his age were getting swept up in the lure of quick, illegal money, White, even as a young boy, had big dreams and no intention of risking his life for financial gain. Instead, he chose a different path, starting to cut hair in his basement at the age of 14.

Not only did this provide him with a legal way to make good money, but it was during these years that White understood the power of culture.

“Before social status or social media, the social status of the day was a fly, fresh fade,” White, 40, tells BLACK ENTERPRISE. “So I think it’s been many iterations, but I would say when my 7-year-old self and my 14-year-old self had access to these levels of being your own boss, I realized I wanted to take the entrepreneurial route.”

White’s broader vision for North Minneapolis is coming true through Camdentown Flats. He realizes that this concept of affordable housing, centered around community, has been in him and not on him since he moved to the city from Mississippi in 1985 around the age of seven.

He recalled discovering that Prince attended his high school and how, when he cut hair as a kid, he learned that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis used to make their hits, including songs for acts like Janet Jackson and New Edition, in the suburbs of Minneapolis, a predominantly white neighborhood.

“So think about this,” he says. “What if Prince or Jimmy Jam had brought a block in the neighborhood where they came from and built their studio? One of the reasons why I’m happy I didn’t peak early is because my 25- or 30-year-old self wouldn’t have been thinking like this.”

The community is at the center of everything White puts his hands on, including his latest Camdentown Flats venture, which is funded by U.S. Bank

“In every city in America, the suburbs is where we go to the movies, to the mall, to do all the good sh*t, and then we just have to live in the neighborhoods with our people if we can’t afford better and so I’m like man, this is BS, so let’s build something to prove that people want to be together,” says White. “That we can be together, that we can build aspirational housing.

“I didn’t know how important proximity was until I was without the proximity of different things,” Chief Financial Officer of Houston White Enterprises Ron R. Richard adds. “With Camdentown Flats, it’s all about that social connectivity. People always talk about Black people needing therapy to deal with their traumas, and honestly, therapy is an expensive thing, a health requirement that not all of us can afford. Where we do find therapy is in the communities that we’re surrounded by, and when we have an issue, or we have things that we’re dealing with, we can always come to the community and then tap in and see that ‘Oh, OK, this person’s kind of dealing with that and this is how they handle it.’ And I could talk to this person and be around that. For me, being a 40-year-old man, how do we help create that fertile ground for the 25 or 30-year-old trying to find that community and that connection?”

Merging modern living with cultural connection, local art and history, and innovative features, thanks to White’s ongoing business relationship with brands like Target, Blue Dot, 3M, and Best Buy, Camdentowntown Flats is reshaping the future of North Minneapolis.

Still, White admits the work isn’t done.

“We’re working on a phase three project, which is a 3-story commercial building that’ll have a restaurant, new concept pizzeria, Bruce Leroy’s Pizzeria on the first floor, and then corporate tenants on the second floor, and we’ll bring the headquarters, Houston White Enterprises, on the third floor,” Richard explains.

Adds White, “It’s important for us to build an enterprise and business and create community impact. East Lake in Atlanta is one of our North Stars, right? How they’ve taken a sport like golf, this stodgy white man’s game. We play golf all the time, so we get it’s all about that country club situation, but we want to take that and bring it to Camdentown so as Houston White Enterprises grows, whether it’s with Target or US Bank or Best Buy or Four Seasons or any other corporation, they’re like, ‘Oh, I directly see that relationship impacting a community for the better.’”

Ultimately, the goal is to build a billion-dollar enterprise from the block and pour it back into the community. Houston White and company are leading the charge in North Minneapolis, one housing development project at a time.

RELATED CONTENT: Washington State Program To Combat Historical Housing Discrimination

Black history, classrooms, Florida
by Daniel Johnson

September 10, 2024

New Jersey Boarding School Honors Legacy Of First Black Students: ‘This Is A Big Moment In The History Of The School’

Lyals Battle and Darrell Fitzgerald integrated The Lawrenceville School in 1964.

The Lawrenceville School, a boarding school in New Jersey, has named a new atrium in honor of its first Black students, Lyals Battle and Darrell Fitzgerald.

The duo, who integrated the school in 1964, are now commemorated with the Battle-Fitzgerald Atrium. The space will showcase a plaque and memorabilia from alumni, highlighting the school’s commitment to honoring its history and progress in diversity. According to CBS News, the plaque features a recounting of the school’s work to engender diversity following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling desegregating schools in Brown v Board of Education.

Boarding schools in general were once racially stratified, including Lawrenceville, which did not admit Black people until 10 years post-Brown. Boarding schools often did not want to integrate, repeatedly justifying their desire not to integrate by citing that as independent institutions they were not subjected to federal education requirements or mandates.

“As I’ve thought a lot about it—the resistance on the part of the school—I think it’s important that we take some collective responsibility,” Steve Murray, Lawrenceville’s head of school, told CBS News. “But I think it in part reflects societal attitudes. I think that there was the country’s acceptance of Brown v. Board of Education and actually acting on it.”

The school’s atrium was previously named after Edwin Lavino, the president of Lawrenceville’s school board from 1947 to 1963, who was an opponent of the desegregation of the school. Although the school did eventually desegregate, Khalil Johnson, assistant professor of African American studies at Wesleyan University, said that the institutions that integrated, including Lawrenceville, did not have any structures in place to support Black students. 

“For the students, their very presence on these campuses changed what these campuses were like,” Johnson told CBS News. “The schools didn’t have in place any of the kinds of cohort building or ways of assimilating and accommodating students who were not from the traditional background that they were used to serving. They thought that we could just have these students come, and they would adapt and everything would be fine.” 

According to Fitzgerald, although he and Battle were the only two Black students on campus, their teachers expected the same of them as they expected of the other students.

“They understood we were alone by ourselves, but this was still the school, and you’re going to be held to the same standards as every student in that school,” Fitzgerald said. “Lawrenceville changed us and we changed that school forever. I had prayed to God, let me let me live long enough to see the dedication, because this is a big moment in the history of the school to have our names on that entry to the Tsai Field House and that atrium.”

RELATED CONTENT: Survey: 70 Years Brown V. Board, Segregation Haunts American Education System

Joseline Hernandez, Joseline cabaret, Zeus network, playboy
by Ida Harris

September 9, 2024

Joseline Hernandez Celebrated For Her Big Wins And The Reality Of Being Herself

Joseline Hernandez continues to make moves in the reality TV space.

Joseline Hernandez continues to make moves in reality and in the reality TV space. The self-proclaimed Princess of Puerto Rico just wrapped the fifth season of her signature series Joseline’s Cabaret on the Zeus Network and graced the cover of Playboy Mexico.

La puertorriqueña told BLACK ENTERPRISE that “Mexico was ready for a real Latin woman with some color in her” and “that’s what I am.”

Lemuel Plummer, Zeus Network president and CEO, was in Houston Sept. 8 to celebrate the premiere of the upcoming season of Joseline’s reality show on the streaming network. While on the red carpet, Plummer spoke to the huge opportunity it was for Joseline to land the Playmate feature and gave the entertainer her flowers in real time. 

“Listen, Playboy is an incredible magazine,” Plummer told BE. “They’ve been around forever and the fact that they reached out and they wanted to feature her is a huge deal.”

The CEO continued: “So, shout out to her and that’s why it’s important…We don’t get these opportunities and the fact that she got that amazing opportunity to be, to be not only a hit maker for Zeus and somebody who’s been around for five seasons and who’s brought so much, she’s also doing a big one internationally with Playboy and all sorts of brands. It’s very hard to get those opportunities and she’s been able to do it.

“She’s an icon,” Plummer said. “She’s a legend.” 

As Plummer sang Joseline’s praises and showered her with love, she regarded him as her “favorite person in the world,” to which Plummer responded, “So, are you. You know that.”

Joseline and multiple cast members from a range of Cabaret seasons descended onto Houston for the premiere. Reality star Durrell Smylie of Zeus network’s Bad Boys Los Angeles was present, as well as Houston natives Sunni Tha Rapper and Erica Banks, who came out in full support of Joseline.

“Well, first of all, I love Joseline,” Banks told BE. “That’s been my girl before I saw her come on TV.”

The premiere episode for season 5 Joseline’s Cabaret: Texas is now available and streaming on Zeus network. 

RELATED CONTENT: Joseline Hernandez Knows The Importance of Intellectual Property After Making VH1 ‘Billions of Dollars’

OnlyFans, Onlyfans
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

September 9, 2024

OnlyFans Paid Out A Whopping $6.6B In 2023

New findings show the whopping $6.6 billion jump in payments to the OnlyFans platform for the 2023 fiscal year.

New findings show the whopping $6.6 billion jump in payments to the OnlyFans platform for the 2023 fiscal year.

A UK regulatory filing released on Sept. 5 revealed record-breaking profits OnlyFans saw for the year ending Nov. 30, 2023. Gross payments processed through the subscription-based platform rose 19% from $5.55 billion in 2022 to $6.63 billion last year.

Variety reports that the drastic jump in payments follows a 29% increase in creators in 2023 to 4.12 million. OnlyFans creators received total payouts of $5.32 billion in the most recent fiscal year, averaging nearly $1,300 per creator, representing a 19% year-over-year increase.

It was a good year for the London-based platform, with registered OnlyFans users increasing 28% during fiscal 2023 to 305 million. The company’s revenue for the most recent fiscal year rose by 20% to $1.31 billion, while its pre-tax profit surged 25% to $658 million.

The profit jump shows that OnlyFans has continued to rise in popularity since its 2016 inception. Content creators prefer the platform as they receive 80% of all payments made to the platform. Most of its content is adult-centered, including pornography and X-rated photos.

Users must pay a subscription fee or opt-in to access OnlyFans accounts. Creators must also pass an extensive ID verification process before creating an account, which adds to its safety.

“OnlyFans’ mission is to empower content creators to own their full potential by building the safest social media platform and providing unparalleled opportunities to our user community,” the company said in the filing. “The media content on OnlyFans.com can only be shared or accessed by registered users who are over 18 years old and who have successfully completed the Creator or Fan onboarding process.”

It also notes the increased media attention OnlyFans receives “due to its novel business model, inclusive content policy, and the success of many Creators.”

“The Group will continue to develop its public and government relations strategy to address misconceptions regarding the Group as reported in the media,” it adds.

OnlyFans has been focused on developing its OFTV platform, a safe-for-work streaming platform and app that primarily serves as a promotional tool for the site. The company says it has “begun to explore opportunities to license OFTV content to other platforms.”

RELATED CONTENT: 4 Ways Content Creators Can Turn Their Passion Into A Business

Angela Bassett, Spelman
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

September 9, 2024

Angela Bassett Wins First Emmy For Narrating All-Female Led ‘Queens’ Documentary

Angela Bassett is halfway to obtaining EGOT status after winning her first Emmy Award.

Angela Bassett is halfway to obtaining EGOT status after winning her first Emmy award on Sept. 7.

The Academy Award recipient won a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Narration on National Geographic’s nature documentary “Queens,” Variety reports. It was the first award of the night, and one Bassett was not expecting.

“This is one of the big ones, and that doesn’t usually happen,” Bassett said during a press conference.

“Whenever you’re acknowledged, I’m just, you know, a girl who just wanted to act. My mentors were way out ahead of me. I just looked to them and got inspiration and hope, and I just put my focus, my energy, and my love to try to make it happen in my life and for my life.”

She added: “So each and every day, I try to remember that first love, and when this happens, I appreciate it.”

The six-part documentary highlights the iconic worlds of nature ruled by the most impressive female leaders in the animal kingdom. Each episode follows different animal queens around the world, including Savanna Queens, African Queens, Tiny Jungle Queens, Rainforest Queens, Coastal Queens, and Mountain Queens.

Bassett was on a break from filming FX’s “9-1-1” when she agreed to work on the all-female-led project that sought her out.

“We don’t work for these, but we receive them for all the hard work that we do,” Bassett said. “Of course, it’s not work that you do alone, even though it’s for narration. There’s a whole team that pursued me and believed in me, fought for me, and worked with me to tell this amazing story of females in the wild kingdom, led by an all-female production team, a first in wildlife documentary filmmaking. So that was pretty inspiring to me in and of itself.”

The “Black Panther” star joked when asked about her inspiration for signing on to narrate the documentary.

“I was awfully tired after chasing bad guys and being a cop,” Bassett said, referencing her “9-1-1” show. “The idea of an all-female crew in the wilderness telling this story and centering it on the matriarchs and the conservation they were doing — it touched my heart.”

The Emmy win joins the honorary Academy Award Angela Bassett received in January. Bassett has been candid about the disappointment she felt when she lost the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2023 following her loss for Best Actress in 1994.

RELATED CONTENT: An Ageless Angela Bassett Proves She’s Still Got Her Groove In Mugler Fashion Show Runway Debut

school shooting, Colt Gray, Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, School Shooter
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

September 9, 2024

Black Woman Identified As Alleged HS Counselor Of Georgia School Shooter Sparks Debate

Debates mount amid the revelation by an independent and controversial independent reporter of the Black woman who allegedly served as the counselor of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray.

Debates are mounting on social media amid the revelation of the Black woman who reportedly served as the counselor of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray.

On Sept. 7, controversial investigative reporter Jonathan Lee Riches identified Lisa Butler as Gray’s school counselor at Apalachee High. According to a tweet Riches allegedly sent out, some students at the school “blame” Butler for the school shooting that took the lives of two students and two teachers. No other source has confirmed his assertions at the time of this writing.

“Mrs. Lisa Butler was Colt Gray’s counselor at Apalachee High School,” Riches wrote. “Students have been sending us emails saying she is the worse counselor, doesn’t do her job & some even blame her.”

“The grandparents of Colt Gray called Butler a week before the shooting to warn her about his mental health,” he continued. “The mother of Colt Gray spoke with Butler Wednesday morning before the shooting, warning her of an extreme emergency regarding her son.”

Riches’ tweet comes in response to reports revealing the alleged text message Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, sent to a school counselor warning staff of an “extreme emergency” before the shooting took place. According to Marcee’s sister, Anne Brown, Marcee Gray urged the school to “immediately” find her son to check on him.

However, Riches is being called out by many on social media who accuse him of spreading misinformation online or attempting to pass the blame for the school shooting onto the Black high school counselor and not on Gray’s father, who allowed the 14-year-old access to guns.

“Learn the facts. People that work in schools aren’t God and able to just magically transport themselves to intervene in what was called in as a concern,” one person wrote in response to Riches.

“So blaming the Black school counselor instead of the father who bought him a gun? Nope,” added someone else.

Another user defended Butler and placed blame on Gray’s father, who “should’ve never bought him a gun knowing he had mental problems,” they wrote.

Brown provided screenshots of the text messages and a call log, which showed a call was made to the school at 9:50 a.m., 30 minutes before the shooting started at 10:20 a.m., according to Gray’s arrest warrant. Marcee received a text from her son on Wednesday saying he was sorry.

“I am so, so sorry and can not fathom the pain and suffering they are going through right now,” Marcee Gray told The Washington Post through text.

“It’s horrible. It’s absolutely horrible,” she told The New York Post.

According to the arrest warrant, texts show relatives started contacting the school about Gray’s mental health a week before the shooting. Brown told a relative that Gray was having “homicidal and suicidal thoughts.”

Gray’s grandfather, Charles Polhamus, told Brown that Gray “starts with the therapist tomorrow.”

The investigators have not disclosed what they believe may have motivated Gray or if they think he intentionally targeted specific victims. Gray’s father, Colin Gray, became the first parent of a school shooting suspect charged in Georgia, according to the District Attorney.

Gray is jailed in Barrow County after declining to seek bail in a brief court hearing on Sept.6. He is facing charges of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and cruelty to children for providing his son with the rifle.

After choosing not to request bail, Colt Gray is currently held in a juvenile detention center. Neither has been indicted nor has a plea been entered.

RELATED CONTENT: Here’s What We Know About 14-Year-Old Georgia School Shooter Colt Gray 

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