Pastor regrets asking DeSantis to speak at vigil for race-based shooting: report

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was recently booed while speaking at a vigil for a racially motivated shooting in his own state, and the pastor who passed him the mic says it was a "mistake" doing so.

DeSantis, who is also attempting to beat Donald Trump in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has already taken flack for the shooting. Just last month, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D) attributed attacks on people of color in her state to DeSantis and his war against "woke."

At a vigil following the shooting, DeSantis was booed, and told that he was not welcome there.

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Now, the pastor who gave DeSantis the chance to speak at the event says he was never supposed to do that, according to reports.

"A pastor who emceed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a vigil following the racist massacre of three Black individuals at a Dollar Store is now saying that he regrets his decision to pass the mic to DeSantis, according to new reports. At the event, DeSantis was booed, with people yelling 'you’re not welcome here' upon his introduction," The Daily Beast reported. "Pastor John Allen Newman, who supervised the event, said that he intended just to acknowledge the governor’s presence at the vigil, and did not intend to give him a chance to speak."

The pastor is quoted in reports as saying, "I mistakenly forgot he was to be acknowledged, would not speak. So the fluke was I called him to go out and speak. It was not some kind of grandiose scheme. That was actually a mistake I made by misreading the program.”

Read the article here.