Talladega College Marching Tornado Band fundraiser tops $672K
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The controversy over the Talladega College Marching Tornado Band appearance at President Donald Trump’s inauguration parade has turned into one of the single greatest fundraising efforts ever for the school, according to the college’s president Billy Hawkins.
As of Sunday evening, January 22nd, the GoFundMe page had raised $672,703. The original goal was to raise $75,000. How did they do it?
The college’s president, Billy C. Hawkins, appeared Thursday Jan. 12th on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News, describing how their choice to play in the inauguration had been criticized. Donations from the show’s mostly conservative audience poured in.
The band, which had raised about $50,000 on its GoFundMe page before Mr. Hawkins’s appearance on Fox, received more than $333K the day after the show, Friday Jan. 13th.
According to a quote from Mr. Hawkins for The New York Times;
Some alumni have come at me pretty hard; they don’t want the band to participate and say I am a disgrace to my race,” Mr. Hawkins told host Bill O’Reilly. But this is about the students having an opportunity to participate in this national ceremony.
On Saturday, Hawkins told the Anniston Star that the band could potentially meet President Trump on Sunday. No meetings have been confirmed.
Here is the Marching Tornadoes’ performance in front of the President and his family on Friday evening.
