Man behind anti-lockdown websites got death threats: report

A Florida man who purchased several online domains associated with anti-lockdown protests amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has said that he received death threats over the websites, BuzzFeed News reported.

Brad Lee Butcher, an entrepreneur from Sebastian, Fla., purchased several domains associated with protesting stay-at-home orders and other coronavirus lockdowns across the country. He purchased reopenNC.com, reopenNC.org, reopenNY.com, reopenFL.com, and reopenMI.com, among several other websites, and he redirected them to a petition on redirectNC.com calling for businesses to reopen in the state, according to BuzzFeed News. 

He told the outlet that he planned to use the websites to raise money for the protests to pay for signs and T-shirts, but he did not make his email private when he registered the domains. He later allegedly received death threats, as users were able to look up his name, email and phone number from the site’s registration information.

After the sites were published, Butcher told BuzzFeed News that he received a call from a stranger telling him that his private information was being shared on Twitter.

“Profiting from people dying was what the main theme was,” he said. “They made me the merchant of death.” 

The reopen protests in North Carolina have drawn some demonstrators to the governor’s mansion, where they have criticized the state’s ongoing stay-at-home order. Multiple protesters have been arrested in the state’s capital, and an official within the group revealed that she tested positive for coronavirus.

All of the sites the Florida man purchased have now been taken down. Butcher explained that he has family in North Carolina who have supported the demonstrations, including his mother.   

Butcher said that the sites raised enough money to have two to three individuals making shirts in North Carolina “for about two to three weeks”

Now, Butcher has started a new website referencing the online attacks called Merchant Death. The site sells shirts with slogans that say “F— China” and “F— COVID-19.”

He claims that the shirts are not racist, saying “It does not say f— the Chinese anywhere in the world. This shirt says, f— the leaders of China and communism. This includes most of our U.S. media and all wanting to undermine our Constitution and instill socialism in the U.S.,” BuzzFeed News reported. 

Protesters have gathered across the country to demonstrate against stay-at-home orders and other precautions state officials have taken during the coronavirus pandemic.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Thursday extended the state’s stay-at-home order despite the state attracting national attention as protesters, some carrying weapons, have demonstrated in the state’s Capitol building.