Popular left-wing blogger Brooklyn Dad hits back after it’s revealed he was paid by Democratic party
‘A bunch of folks thought I was hiding information clearly stated in my profile’
Popular left-wing blogger Brooklyn Dad Defiant has brushed off criticism that he was being paid by a Democratic political action committee during the 2020 election.
Majid Padellan pointed out that his Twitter profile states he is a senior adviser to ReallyAmerican.com, and thanked his followers for standing up for him in the face of criticism from the left and progressives.
“Just woke up, saw Brooklyn Dad trending because a bunch of folks thought I was hiding information clearly stated in my profile, but even MORE of you stood up for me,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “Thanks you guys. I love you!”
According to a vendor recipient profile on OpenSecrets.org, Mr Padellan received a total of $57,088 in 13 payments from the Really American PAC between 13 July 2020 and 24 December 2020.
Snapshots of his Twitter profile on The Internet Archive show he added his role as a senior adviser to the group sometime between the first payment and 28 July.
Twitter user @BethLynch2020 posted a screenshot of the record of payment, saying: “Brooklyn Dad being a paid Dem op is pretty unsurprising, it absolutely does pay to have/promote s****y political opinions in America.”
When challenged by another Twitter user as to whether it was particularly shocking, she replied: “ofc it isn’t. But it’s still good to know who’s funding him for his takes, no?”
She adds: “Like it might be significant that he’s funded by healthcare interests and google, and amazon, and John f***ing Legend to tweet anti-Left policy takes.”
A further screenshot included a list of the PACs top donors, including prominent healthcare and tech companies, as well as colleges, and musician John Legend.
The listed amounts total far more than Mr Padellan was paid. Really American spent more than $1m on federal elections in the 2020 cycle.
In a statement to The Independent, the PAC said that Mr Padellan has disclosed that he worked with them from the start.
“He mentions it on his show, every time we release new videos, and it’s been in his profile,” the statement read.
“[Mr Padellan] does all of our graphic design work and is our social media manager. Truly shocking to see this reaction.”
Criticism from the left included accusations that Mr Padellan shields Joe Biden from not pursuing a more progressive agenda and a tweet from April 2020, prior to his relationship with the PAC, in which he said he wished Bernie Sanders would drop out of the primaries so there would be no repeat of 2016. There were also allegations that he smeared Tara Reade who accused Mr Biden of sexual assault in early 2020.
A comment that appeared more than once played on his full title “Brooklyn Dad Defiant” making it “Brooklyn Dad Compliant” for allegedly being under the control of the Democratic Party establishment.
On Tuesday, Mr Padellan cancelled his podcast saying that his blood pressure was high and he had to “chill”.
However, on Wednesday after thanking his followers for their support, he retweeted a selection of their posts.
“Brooklyn Dad Defiant, aka @mmpadellan, is getting compensated. Apparently, he’s good at what he does,” said one. “So whoever has their panties in a twist over it can go pound sand.”
“I stand with Brooklyn Dad. He never had to unblock when I left MAGA and welcomed me in when I became a Democrat,” wrote another.
Other defenders of Mr Padellan said that as an influencer it was not unusual for him to receive payment for his work, again underscoring that it was public information.
Mr Padellan went back to his own tweeting, saying today was a good day as Merrick Garland will be confirmed as attorney general.
The Independent has reached out to Mr Padellan for comment.
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