BlackRock Pulls 2022 Ad Featuring Trump Shooter Thomas Crooks

Zachary LeemanJul 15th, 2024, 9:43 am
 

BlackRock announced on Sunday they have pulled a 2022 ad featuring Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump on Saturday in Pennsylvania.

The Secret Service shot and killed Crooks after getting off multiple rounds, killing one rallygoer, injuring two others, and hitting the former president in the ear.

The ad featured Crooks and other unpaid teens from Bethel Park High School. Crooks graduated from the school in 2022.

“In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher from Bethel Park High School, in which several unpaid students briefly appeared in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks,” the company said in a statement first published by Reuters.

BlackRock, the biggest money manager in the world, called the attempt on Trump’s life “abhorrent” and said all footage being scrubbed will be made available to authorities as they conduct their investigation.

The ad featuring Crooks focuses on a teacher for Bethel Park High school discussing retirement planning and money management. There is footage from classrooms, and Crooks can be seen seated in the room with other students. Clips of the ad have been circulating on social media.

Trump flew to Milwaukee, Wisconsin following the shooting for the Republican National Convention where he will give a message of “unity,” something the former president said he pivoted to after the attempt on his life.

President Joe Biden has also urged unity, declaring, “violence has never been the answer” in an address to the nation.

“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever, period, no exceptions. We cannot allow this violence to be normalized,” he said.

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Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.