IOWA CITY, IA — Carson King, the Iowa man who turned the viral appeal of his college football game-day sign asking for beer money into a fundraiser for a children’s hospital, raised nearly $3 million by the time he closed it Tuesday.
The 24-year-old casino security guard raised more than $920,000 on his Venmo account. With matching funds from Venmo, Anheuser-Busch — the maker of the Busch beer King sought money for with his flippant sign — and other sources, the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital will get a check for $2,959,336.30.
The feel-good moment quickly turned into a public relations storm for Anheuser-Busch and the Des Moines Register, exposing the “cancel culture” of the internet that can deem good deeds unworthy due to past actions. The beer company distanced itself from King after learning of racially insensitive tweets, unearthed by a Register reporter working on a profile of King, when he was a 16-year-old.
After the tweets came to light, Anheuser-Busch said it would make good on a commitment to donate more than $350,000 the hospital, but that it would have no more association with King because their views didn’t align. After condemnation from its customers and others attracted to the genuine kindness behind the fundraiser, Busch Beer said in a series of tweets that it and parent Anheuser-Busch would match donations to the children’s hospital dollar-for-dollar through the end of September.
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Fallout continues for the Des Moines Register, where non-related stories posted on its social media accounts garner comments about the King dustup. The newspaper defended its decision to include King’s old tweets in the profile, which alone raised the ire of readers basking in the Iowa-guy-does-good story, but then fired the reporter over his own old social media posts. If the online comments are an accurate measure, readers aren’t ready to forgive the newspaper for either position.
Meanwhile, after apologizing for youthful errors in judgment and an “attempt at humor that was hurtful” — the tweets in question were jokes from the “Tosh.0” television series — King pushed on with his fundraiser.
If anything, the controversies may have spurred more donors to give in what, effectively, became a cancellation of the so-called cancel culture.
Other businesses said they were proud to be associated with King. A musician whose son had open-heart surgery at the hospital raised about $50,000 for the effort at a benefit concert. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds declared Sept. 28 “Carson King Day” in recognition of his plans to donate the millions in “beer money” to a hospital for critically and terminally ill children.
Supporting businesses included Geneseo Brewing Co., located across the Iowa state line in Illinois, which said it would name a new Pilsner “Iowa Legend” after King. It’s the same name Busch Light planned to give to a now-cancelled release of beer. Geneseo also said it would donate $1 to the children’s hospital for every pint and 16-ounce can of “Iowa Legend” sold.
“We have witnessed your growth through your later social media content, and accept your apology,” the brewery wrote on Facebook. “We believe that your selfless act to raise funds for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital is truly a noble act.”
The first 300 cans of Iowa Legend beer sold out in a matter of minutes, and subsequent releases were also quickly snapped up.
King said Tuesday he “still can’t even fathom how much exactly we just raised, and how cool this is and the type of impact this is going to make for all the people,” news station KCCI reported.
Though he asked Venmo to shut down his account, King isn’t ready to shed his new role as Iowa’s best-known fundraiser.
“I think maybe moving forward, I’d like to start a foundation and keep doing this and doing cool things for hospitals around Iowa, around the Midwest, the country (and) recognize cool organizations that are doing nice things for people,” he said, according to the KCCI news story.
The University of Iowa plans to recognize King — who hoisted the now-famous sign at the intrastate college football rivalry game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State University Cyclones on Sept. 14 — at the Hawkeyes’ next home football game against Penn State on Oct. 12.
“We extend a sincere ‘thank you,'” the hospital said in a statement. “We are simply overwhelmed by the generosity of the many people, organizations and companies across the country who contributed in support of the kids and their families through Carson King’s initiative.”
Anyone who wishes to donate to the hospital may do so at givetoiowa.org.
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