In a surprising turn of events, far-right activist Laura Loomer, known for her controversial rants, found herself inadvertently supporting the very tech platform created by two Indian entrepreneurs, just days after launching a tirade against Indians.
Following a series of racist and xenophobic remarks about Indians, Loomer took to social media, asking her followers to support her financially after being banned on major payment platforms like Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal. In response to an inquiry about how fans could donate, she shared a link to the donation platform Buy Me a Coffee, claiming it would help her in her ongoing battle against “Big Tech.”
“I’m banned on Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal because these people want to strangle me and have been subjecting me to their caste system for YEARS,” Loomer wrote, venting her frustration about the bans. However, Loomer failed to realize that Buy Me a Coffee is a platform founded by two Indian tech entrepreneurs, Jijo Sunny and Joseph Sunny—whom she had just blasted in a previous rant.
Buy Me a Coffee was created to allow creators to connect with their audiences and receive financial support directly. The platform’s founders designed it to give creators a simple way to receive payments and interact with their fans. It seems the irony was lost on Loomer, who, while railing against Indians for allegedly undermining the US, was unknowingly promoting a platform built by them.
In an amusing twist, Jijo Sunny, one of the founders of Buy Me a Coffee, took the opportunity to respond to Loomer’s inadvertent promotion of the platform. With a knowing wink, he quipped, “Sometimes the best way to silence hate is by showing the world how far we’ve come—no matter where we’re from.”
The controversy traces back to Loomer’s reaction to the appointment of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American tech executive, as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Loomer used the announcement as a springboard for a barrage of offensive remarks against Indians, falsely portraying Krishnan as part of a “caste system” conspiracy and attacking the contributions of Indian immigrants to the US.
Her remarks, which included calling Indians “third-world invaders” and making disparaging comments about Indian hygiene, sparked backlash across social media. Yet, it appears that the tech world—particularly platforms like Buy Me a Coffee, developed by the very people Loomer had targeted—remained blissfully unaffected by her rhetoric.
As Loomer continues to clash with the platforms she claims to oppose, the irony of her support for Buy Me a Coffee serves as a reminder of the complex and often contradictory relationships between tech, politics, and prejudice. For many, it highlights the stark contrast between the vitriol of her rhetoric and the reality of the tech landscape she seems so keen to decry.