The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) demanded a retraction after Black Lives Matter (BLM) Chicago posted an email allegedly sent from the police union’s president calling them “thug lives matter.”
BLM Chicago posted the email, which they claim was sent from Chicago FOP President John Catanzara, on their Twitter account Wednesday morning. The email appeared to have been sent at 2:08 a.m. Wednesday morning and read “TIME IS UP THUGLIVESMATTER! WERE [sic] COMING FOR YOU HOMEBOYS.”
At 2am in the morning, the President of the FOP emailed us from his official account… pic.twitter.com/0amclwo1Of
— BLMChicago (@BLMChi) August 11, 2021
The chapter said in a tweet that they were sending the alleged email to their attorneys and made fun of Catanzara for forgetting to log out of his official account. BLM also said the “behavior is what is to be expected from Catanzara.” (RELATED: Two Chicago Police Officers Shot While Dispersing Crowd Setting Off Fireworks)
The FOP is saying the email is fake (Of course they are) Next they will say it was hacked.
We sent the email to our attorneys.
This behavior is what is to be expected from Catanzara. Whats most surprising is that he forgot to log out of his official acct before hitting send.
— BLMChicago (@BLMChi) August 11, 2021
They later posted a filebin link to authenticate the email, but the link was no longer available at the time of publication.
“Thanks to everyone for sharing how to authenticate an email,” the organization tweeted Wednesday afternoon. “We get hate mail, death threats via email, phone, messenger, etc daily, however this was a new one from a seemingly official account. Each one teach one. We appreciate our village.”
Thanks to everyone for sharing how to authenticate an email.
We get hate mail, death threats via email, phone, messenger, etc daily, however this was a new one from a seemingly official account.
Each one teach one. We appreciate our village.
— BLMChicago (@BLMChi) August 11, 2021
The Chicago FOP denied that the email came from Catanzara and demanded a retraction.
“Please be advised that neither I nor anyone associated with the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge 7 sent an email on August 11, 2021, at 2:00 a.m. (or at any time), which appears on your formal Twitter account,” the Chicago FOP said in a press release that was signed by Catanzara Wednesday. “Clearly, it is false, misleading and extremely troubling that your organization would re-post such an inflammatory email without verifying its authenticity.”
The Chicago FOP said the email was “sent in an attempt to stoke the flames of the most recent, tragic events.” They demanded “immediate attention” to the issue and asked the organization to make another Twitter post retracting the statement.
The Chicago FOP directed the Daily Caller to John Catanzara for comment, who did not immediately respond. BLM Chicago also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.