Chipotle moved to distance itself from billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman after he donated to a fundraiser aimed at supporting the ICE agent involved in the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman.
The fast-casual restaurant chain that specializes in burritos, tacos and bowls took to social media platform Threads Monday to post a one-sentence statement to clarify that “Bill Ackman is not affiliated with Chipotle.”
Chipotle moved forward with that post in response to a viral post on Threads that called for a boycott of Chipotle and inaccurately claimed Ackman owned the company in a post that said, “Don’t eat at Chipotle. The guy who owns it just gave $10000 to the man who killed Renee Good.”
Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, disclosed a 9.9% stake in Chipotle in 2016, and the billionaire took an active role in overhauling the company’s strategy but reduced its holdings over time before exiting the stake late last year, a move Chipotle disclosed during a November earnings call.
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The controversy linking Ackman to Chipotle surfaced after visitors to a GoFundMe page set up for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis realized that a $10,000 donation to the fund had been made by William Ackman.
Following speculation about whether it was the outspoken entrepreneur who made the donation, Ackman himself took to social media to confirm that he made the donation and explained that he intended to do likewise for a fundraiser for Good but wasn’t able to do so in time.
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“The whole situation is a tragedy. An officer doing his best to do his job, and a protester who likely did not intend to kill the officer but whose actions in a split second led to her death. Our country is stronger if we work together to solve complex issues that are tearing us apart,” Ackman wrote.
The fatal shooting in Minneapolis has sparked ongoing protests not only in the Twin Cities but around the country, prompting the Department of Homeland Security to announce the deployment of hundreds more ICE agents to Minneapolis.
DHS alleges that Good “weaponized her vehicle” and “attempted to run a law enforcement officer over,” while critics argue that the ICE agent should face prosecution for his role in the shooting.
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