Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather has offered to cover the costs of George Floyd’s funeral services after the 46-year-old was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin during a routine arrest over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill late last month. According to TMZ Sports, Floyd’s family have already accepted Mayweather’s offer and the money has already been sent.
- There are four funeral services scheduled for Floyd. Services are due to be held in Houston, Minnesota, Charlotte, and another city yet to be decided. Funerals are incredibly expensive and can be cost-prohibitive, so Mayweather’s generous offer will likely be one small bit of relief in a terribly tragic and infuriating time.
- Mayweather has somewhat of a personal connection to Floyd. The boxer was apparently inspired to help when he realized that TMT musical label CEO Anzel Jennings actually grew up with George Floyd. His people added that Mayweather simply felt that helping in this small way was the right thing to do in his heart.
- As soon as the Floyd family accepted Mayweather’s offer, money was sent. Mayweather didn’t waste any time waiting to get the funds where they needed to be, and TMZ obtained an image of the check for $88,500 that was sent to the Robert Swearington Fort Bend Memorial funeral home on June 1 to cover the costs.
- In the meantime, Floyd’s family awaits news about Derek Chauvin. The family is pushing for the third-degree murder charges the officer is facing to be updated to first-degree murder, especially given the findings of an independent autopsy which ruled Floyd’s death as a homicide by asphyxiation.
- Things need to change. Things have needed to change for hundreds of years and they haven’t. We take one step forward and 10 steps back. While Floyd’s death is a horrific tragedy, here’s hoping we can use this experience to finally begin stamping out the terrible racism in this society that allows things like this to happen to black men and women every single day. Enough is enough.
