GoFundMe Won’t Allow Funding for South Carolina Police Officer Who Shot and Killed an Unarmed Black Man

50-year-old Walter Scott was shot eight times in the back by South Carolina police officer Michael Slager on Saturday, and yesterday, GoFundMe shut down a page asking for donations for Slager. Slager is in jail on murder charges.

GoFundMe did allow two funding pages for Officer Darren Wilson who was accused of shooting and killing unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri last year. Wilson has since been cleared of charges in the shooting by the Justice Department. The pages did get pulled down after almost half a million dollars were collected, but the groups behind the pages said GoFundMe did not shut them down, the groups did.

GoFundMe has also allowed funding pages for a pizza restaurant that wouldn't cater a same-sex wedding, and a florist that wouldn't provide flowers for a same-sex wedding, so they are clearly not adverse to controversial topics.

In the case of Slager, the crowd-funding site said they shut down that funding page because it violated the website's terms and conditions. It's not clear how the page was worded, or what the money collected would be used for. GoFundMe won't discuss those details because of privacy issues.

GoFundMe's terms and conditions does state that the website does not allow pages "..in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts." It's not clear when that particular provision was put into the terms and agreements, but it seems clear they are standing behind that language to not allow a funding page for Slager.

After seeing the video of Walter Scott being shot, it's not hard to agree with GoFundMe, but it does beg the question, why would they allow a page for people who discriminate against sexual orientation when their own language states they won't allow a page to fund, "bigotry, racism, sexism, or profanity"?