Fundraiser for slain officer from Thousand Oaks Borderline Shooting was force-cancelled by Sheriff because two celebrity Republicans were participating

This is a really strange story, and I still can't quite make sense of it.

A site called thefallenofficers.com, is a nonprofit for families of slain police officers, was planning an event to raise money for the family of sergeant Ron Helus, who was slain in the Borderline shooting exactly a year ago today. It was a charity flag football tournament called "Blue Bowl", and they had done similar events around the country in the past.

Last month, the Ventura County Sheriff's office cancelled the event, claiming it was "too political".

Why?

Because Scott Baio was planned to speak there, and Joy Villa was planned to sing the national anthem. Both are Republicans.

There is no indication that Baio or Villa planned to make any kind of political statement while there. It seems that their mere presence was what caused the event to be cancelled.

Here's an article about it: https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/lo...ed/3841717002/

The article seems to dance around the meat of the issue. Why exactly were Baio and Villa's presence considered so problematic? What was the concern? That isn't revealed in the article -- only that it was feared to be "too political", whatever that means. It should also be noted that another planned speaker was Wayne Bilowit, a Democrat appointee of Gavin Newsom, so this wasn't a Republican event disguised as charity.

My best guess was that they felt Baio and Villa were doing this for their own publicity, rather than caring about the cause. But that's not really for the city or county to decide. From what I can tell, Baio at least lives in the area, and most people in Thousand Oaks felt emotionally connected to the events, especially because it was compounded by the major (and unrelated) fire which struck the area 15 hours later.

Also, as Baio and Villa are not running for office, I can't imagine how their presence can be judged "political", even if they are known Trump supporters.

Mike Randall, director of thefallenofficers, claims that Thousand Oaks Police Chief Tim Hagel is a staunch Democrat who bashed Trump to them during a September phone call, and that his personal hatred for Trump and his supporters was the real reason for the event's cancellation. Hagel is being investigated over the matter, according to an article published last week.

I attended a Jewish event in December 2018 which honored Sgt. Helus, where his son spoke.

Regarding the officer's family, his widow and son put out statements which appear to be reluctantly supporting the cancellation, but both seem to be indicating that they don't have all the facts, and might change their minds later. It sounds like the sheriff's office approached them and told them the event was going to be politicized and it should be cancelled, but now both are having lingering doubts if that was really the case.

I've tried to look at this from both sides. If there was any indication that Villa or Baio were going to politicize their appearance, I agree that they should have either been excluded or the event should have been cancelled. However, from what I can see, this only seems to be about their presence itself, which is baffling. This really does look like a political decision by Democrats in charge of Ventura County law enforcement, who simply don't want Trump-supporting celebrities gaining any kind of positive publicity.

The whole thing is very baffling to me.

Agree entirely. The left often can't distinguish between murdered cops and murderous cops. The Sheriff and the Assemblywoman should have used whatever influence they have within the Democratic Party to get one or two Democrats from the entertainment industry to attend. There is a veritable plethora of Democratic celebrities.

Why was Baio slated to speak? I don’t assume he knew the officers and that’s a highly populated area, so yeah he’s from the general area, but I can’t imagine why Chachi is addressing the crowd there unless he personally knew someone involved.

I don’t see why they can’t still have it? The sheriffs department basically just said we don’t want to associate with these attention whores, which in Baio’s case, is accurate. I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to resist making it political. They can still have it and donate the money if their motives are as pure as they claim. They don’t need official involvement to raise money. Doing it, keeping it non-political, and donating it would be a more powerful statement imo.

This is just the beginning. There will come a point being a known Trump supporter is going to be a scarlet letter that everyone will distance themselves from. People will be arguing someone isn’t to be trusted because their father was a known trump supporter 50 years from now. I honestly prefer him to a typical Republican politician, but it’s just going to go down like that moving forward if you pay attention to the way the world moves. He’s had an unreal run good streak and dances between the raindrops. I don’t think he’ll ever pay a price, but his supporters aren’t Teflon like him, and won’t be able to live it down. Most are old enough where it won’t haunt them personally, but when all his shit comes to light and there isn’t anyone to protect him, having supported him will be denied and ran from.

LOL republican celebrities. I don't even know who Joy Villa is.

I thought Baio was effectively blacklisted for banging an underage actress on some 80's show?

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Originally Posted by Sloppy Joe

LOL republican celebrities. I don't even know who Joy Villa is.

I thought Baio was effectively blacklisted for banging an underage actress on some 80's show?

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Maybe post in threads where you have an idea what is going on?

getting a couple of celebrities to show up for free is often an event promoters dream--the celebs tend to pull in more people that donate; indeed, often celebs insist on being comp'd for diner/booze and sometimes appearance money--they figure they contribute just by being there and so they don't contribute cash--celebs are not as charitable as the publicity would lead to you think

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Originally Posted by BCR

Why was Baio slated to speak? I don’t assume he knew the officers and that’s a highly populated area, so yeah he’s from the general area, but I can’t imagine why Chachi is addressing the crowd there unless he personally knew someone involved.

I don’t see why they can’t still have it? The sheriffs department basically just said we don’t want to associate with these attention whores, which in Baio’s case, is accurate. I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to resist making it political. They can still have it and donate the money if their motives are as pure as they claim. They don’t need official involvement to raise money. Doing it, keeping it non-political, and donating it would be a more powerful statement imo.

This is just the beginning. There will come a point being a known Trump supporter is going to be a scarlet letter that everyone will distance themselves from. People will be arguing someone isn’t to be trusted because their father was a known trump supporter 50 years from now. I honestly prefer him to a typical Republican politician, but it’s just going to go down like that moving forward if you pay attention to the way the world moves. He’s had an unreal run good streak and dances between the raindrops. I don’t think he’ll ever pay a price, but his supporters aren’t Teflon like him, and won’t be able to live it down. Most are old enough where it won’t haunt them personally, but when all his shit comes to light and there isn’t anyone to protect him, having supported him will be denied and ran from.

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Scott Baio lives in Thousand Oaks, last I heard. It's appropriate for a celebrity living in the city of a major mass shooting to speak at an event for a victim, even if the celebrity is also doing it to keep himself in the news. If Baio had zero connection to the area, that would be a little more questionable, but still not so bad. Think if a liberal-leaning celebrity was going to speak at this event, even if they were from out of the area. Would there have been similar objections from the Democratic police chiefs? I doubt it.

Celebrities speak all the time at events following tragedies. Here Baio actually lives where it happened, so he's definitely an appropriate guest.

The correct thing here would have been to warn the organizer that there is to be no political speech at the event, and to tell Baio and Villa that, and get them to agree. I'm sure the organizer would have been fine with that, as would Baio and Villa. If anything, they were looking to promote themselves here, not Trump. This simply wasn't a political move on their part to attend. The political move, ironically, was the cancellation of the event.

Very poorly handled, and it sets a bad precedent. Basically, "If you don't vote for the 'right' candidate and you're famous, you are blackballed from high profile memorial events."

Bad.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

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Originally Posted by BCR

Why was Baio slated to speak? I don’t assume he knew the officers and that’s a highly populated area, so yeah he’s from the general area, but I can’t imagine why Chachi is addressing the crowd there unless he personally knew someone involved.

I don’t see why they can’t still have it? The sheriffs department basically just said we don’t want to associate with these attention whores, which in Baio’s case, is accurate. I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to resist making it political. They can still have it and donate the money if their motives are as pure as they claim. They don’t need official involvement to raise money. Doing it, keeping it non-political, and donating it would be a more powerful statement imo.

This is just the beginning. There will come a point being a known Trump supporter is going to be a scarlet letter that everyone will distance themselves from. People will be arguing someone isn’t to be trusted because their father was a known trump supporter 50 years from now. I honestly prefer him to a typical Republican politician, but it’s just going to go down like that moving forward if you pay attention to the way the world moves. He’s had an unreal run good streak and dances between the raindrops. I don’t think he’ll ever pay a price, but his supporters aren’t Teflon like him, and won’t be able to live it down. Most are old enough where it won’t haunt them personally, but when all his shit comes to light and there isn’t anyone to protect him, having supported him will be denied and ran from.

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Scott Baio lives in Thousand Oaks, last I heard. It's appropriate for a celebrity living in the city of a major mass shooting to speak at an event for a victim, even if the celebrity is also doing it to keep himself in the news. If Baio had zero connection to the area, that would be a little more questionable, but still not so bad. Think if a liberal-leaning celebrity was going to speak at this event, even if they were from out of the area. Would there have been similar objections from the Democratic police chiefs? I doubt it.

Celebrities speak all the time at events following tragedies. Here Baio actually lives where it happened, so he's definitely an appropriate guest.

The correct thing here would have been to warn the organizer that there is to be no political speech at the event, and to tell Baio and Villa that, and get them to agree. I'm sure the organizer would have been fine with that, as would Baio and Villa. If anything, they were looking to promote themselves here, not Trump. This simply wasn't a political move on their part to attend. The political move, ironically, was the cancellation of the event.

Very poorly handled, and it sets a bad precedent. Basically, "If you don't vote for the 'right' candidate and you're famous, you are blackballed from high profile memorial events."

Bad.

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I simply disagree. From what I’ve seen, Baio’s entire identity at this point is Trump supporter. He may be doing some D-level entertainment work I’m unaware of, but his name hasn’t crossed a single persons lips for anything in decades beyond his support for Trump. It’s the only time anyone pays attention to him and he knows it.

He really isn’t a celebrity for anything else other than his support for Trump to anyone not approaching 50. He really is barely a celebrity at all.

If your argument is that if it was some left wing PC celebrity speaking it wouldn’t be canceled, of course that’s very likely true.

The same would be true if Alec Baldwin was speaking at some event arranged in a red state. The people there wouldn’t want him and would cancel it before letting him make it about him.

That isn’t really a bad precedent though.

Anything that’s organized for a cause like this should seek to distance themselves from those looking to subvert it into a political rally. If you choose to live in a blue state echo chamber like Baio has, you can’t be surprised when the majority don’t want to hear you ramble and regurgitate what they view as nonsense.

For years conservatives have railed against celebrity endorsements and said “just shut the fuck up, who cares what you think? Your voice isn’t anymore important because you are in some shitty movies?”

That sentiment was true. Who cares? Their opinion generally has less value than some working person who doesn’t live in a bubble.

So I don’t see this as some bad precedent. That it would go on if the speaker was of the left is just about location. If the rally was going on where I live the Italians would fall all over Baio saying the same shit they say every day and someone of the left would be unwelcome if the organizers thought they were going to make it about guns rights or some shit, which they likely would, and stopping that shit before it starts is logical. We are incredibly polarized all ready and people have formed their opinions on this shit. A tribute to victims should be exactly that, and anyone known for being an attention whore from the left or right should be unwelcome. That’s a good precedent. That it’s applied unevenly in SoCal or Alabama is just part of the problem. Not everyone needs to be heard on this bullshit. Rejecting the people who have a track record of making shit political is smart when the point of the rally isn’t a political issue.

You’re always looking for fairness and balance in places that are simply not going to be. That time is long past. You live in SoCal, it’s the entertainment capital. It’s strongly blue. It’s a liberal haven. They think Baio is an idiot and don’t want to hear him. The map is predominantly red with blue specks of population. Him and Ted Nugent would be welcome as a double bill in the vast majority of the country. Not where you live. That’s just the way it is. When no one pays attention to what Scott Baio has to say or -insert left wing celebrity-it will be a better world. The IQ of the room has raised if you’re in an atmosphere where no gives one fuck about hearing that shit. We shouldn’t be striving for fairness and balance. We should be striving for a culture that just says shut the fuck up if you have to go there and don’t have anything of value to bring to the conversation, and people who make everything political rarely bring anything of substance to any event or conversation.

BCR, I know you're from Ohio, and you're missing an important detail here.

Much of your take above is predicated upon SoCal being a "strongly blue" area, and therefore you feel the event's cancellation was simply because he'd have been an unwelcome voice there.

However, Thousand Oaks is not Hollywood. It actually leans Republican. There would be far more people there thinking, "Oh, cool, Scott Baio, he likes Trump" or "Oh, cool, Scott Baio, I remember him from Happy Days" than "What is this Trump-loving asshole doing here?"

The event wasn't cancelled because there was a belief that Baio wouldn't be welcome. It was cancelled because there were two chiefs of police who were so strongly partisan that they didn't want any right-leaning celebrities getting free publicity.

You claimed that a red state would reject Alec Baldwin as a speaker. That's another incorrect assumption. Cancel culture has almost exclusively come from the left in recent years. Now, if Alec Baldwin showed up to an event full of conservatives and made a left-wing political speech, you're correct that he'd be booed off the stage. However, if a shooting took place in a heavily red town in middle America or the south, and if Alec Baldwin happened to be a resident of that town, he would be welcomed at a ceremony honoring the dead, provided he didn't turn his speech political.

The whole attitude of "You think wrong politically, you're not allowed here" is a left tactic nowadays.

It really does set a bad precedent to support the shutting out of certain people from non-partisan events simply because of their politics. It shouldn't matter the demographics of the area. If someone wants to show up and make a speech unrelated to politics, they should be able to do so without the other political side trying to derail them.

This was really a case of, "Fuck Scott Baio, we're not letting him get any positive press because he loves Trump".

The guy is a celebrity who lives in the city where the shooting took place. Very natural for him to come up and speak. People know him, he lives in the city, and he is there to pay tribute to the fallen officer. That should be enough. Might he be attention whoring? Sure, but so would many left-leaning celebrities who lived in the city where a mass shooting took place. Again, if Baio seemed to take an unnatural interest in this matter despite having no connection to the area, the concern would be more understandable.

The irony here is that the police chiefs took something non-political and innocent, claimed it was political, and then turned it into a political controversy themselves.

LOL Democrats

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Originally Posted by BCR

You live in SoCal, it’s the entertainment capital. It’s strongly blue. It’s a liberal haven.

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Yes, but there is a lot of red political donor money to be raked in So California...So the Republican candidates do visit the state and hold exclusive fund raising events--they just don't have mass rallies nor spend heavy on advertising in California...instead there are visits to big contributors with parties and deal making in Cali, while ordinary republican voters get just as much junk mail solicitations as people in the rest of the county....then the money raised in Cali is spent campaigning in battleground states

I think it was BGC who said "the only good cop, is a dead cop". Kinda makes you think