A Florida sheriff issued a fiery statement against singer Lizzo over accusations on social media that he threatened to kill peaceful protesters.
Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, posted the accusations and said she was appalled that law enforcement officials would threaten to stamp out the constitutional right to free speech in the U.S.
‘Until earlier tonight, I had never heard of her.’
“I just watched a video of law enforcement saying they would kill — kill anyone who exercises their First Amendment rights to protest. And I’ve never seen anything more unconstitutional in my life. It was actually appalling,” she said in the video on Instagram.
She said that people have to get louder to combat officials acting illegally.
“I want to encourage everybody to remember their constitutional rights,” she added. “I want to encourage everybody to also protect each other. Because the people that we put in position to protect us are not doing that. Know your rights and stand on ’em.”
Jefferson was likely referring to a viral video of Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, who warned protesters ahead of the No Kings demonstrations to avoid criminal behavior or face the consequences.
“If you spit on us, you’re going to the hospital and then jail. If you hit one of us, you’re going to the hospital and then jail and most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs that we have here,” said Ivey in the viral video.
Ivey did threaten to use lethal force against protesters, but he specifically said that about anyone who uses extreme violence during a protest.
“Throw a brick, firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at,” he added. “Because we will kill you graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.”
After hearing about her post, Ivey responded to Jefferson’s post and excoriated her for misconstruing his comments while confirming that he’s not a fan of her music.
“Lizzo who?” he said to Fox News Digital. “Until earlier tonight, I had never heard of her. So what she thinks matters exactly zero to me! She clearly didn’t listen to what was actually said during the press conference, as is evidenced by how inaccurate her quote is.”
The post from Lizzo to her 11 million followers on Instagram had garnered nearly 75,000 likes.
“At no time were people peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights [ever] threatened, as what was actually said was that peaceful protests are part of our democracy, and we will provide a safe environment for peaceful protest to take place!” Ivey added.
“My warnings were directed at violent protesters whose actions would put citizens and law enforcement officers’ lives at risk!” he concluded.
Fox News Digital said it reached out to Lizzo’s management company but did not get a response.
Millions of people participated in the No Kings protests, and some violence was reported at a number of demonstrations. Statistically, between 1% and 1.5% of the total population joined the protests against the Trump administration.
Lizzo also made headlines when some fat-positivity activists expressed outrage that she had betrayed the movement by seeking to lose weight after initially pushing for more fat acceptance.
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The post Florida sheriff shuts down Lizzo over claim he threatened peaceful protesters: ‘What she thinks means exactly zero to me’ appeared first on TheBlaze.
