Trump targets George Floyd; shares interview saying protest symbol was 'not a good person'

United States President Donald Trump on Friday shared an interview on Twitter in which activist Candace Owens described George Floyd as a symbol of a “broken culture in black America today” and stated that “he was not a good person”.

'George Floyd was not a good person'

Trump, without adding his own comments, retweeted an interview of Owens with radio host Glenn Beck, where Owen said, “George Floyd was not a good person. I don’t care who wants to spin that, I don’t care how CNN wants to make you think that he had just turned his life around. The fact that he has been held up as a martyr sickens me.”

Owens said that Floyd had served five stints in jail, adding, “Was he really going to turn things around? It’s just not true.”

“Is this really the guy that Black America … is this the symbol of Black America today?” Beck said, though adding that Floyd’s treatment by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had been wrong. “I don’t care WHAT George Floyd did. The officer should have never treated him like that and killed him!” Beck wrote in a tweet sharing the video.

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On Thursday, The White House came under fire for inviting Owens to a roundtable on race relations in the wake of similar remarks she shared on Facebook. US Vice President Mike Pence hosted the discussion on Thursday. Pence tweeted out that he had met with some black Americans - including Owens - and explained that the group had discussed 'how we can move our Nation forward in the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd and the protests and rioting that have ensued.'

The death of Floyd on May 25 has sparked a worldwide movement against police brutality, racism and social injustice, as a video showing a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd's neck after the latter had been arrested was widely circulated online the next day.

On June 5, Washington DC Mayor Muriel E Bowser renamed a street outside the White House as "Black Lives Matter Plaza". She also ordered the city workers to paint "Black Lives Matter" in giant yellow letters along 16th Street.

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(With agency inputs)