Dove is now partnering in a “fat liberation” campaign with a Black Lives Matter Activist accused of wrecking a white female student’s life by accusing her of making threatening remarks — later admitting she may not have heard the remarks at all, according to a new report.
Zyahna Bryant, who celebrated on Instagram last week she was a Dove ambassador and spoke of “fat liberation,” accused fellow University of Virginia student Morgan Bettinger — a first-generation college student and the daughter of a police officer who had died six years before — of saying that George Floyd protesters would make “good speed bumps” at a 2020 Charlottesville rally.
Zyahna Bryant is hired by Dove to promote 'FAT liberation' despite ruining white student's live over 'misheard' remark at BLM protest https://t.co/BvpVLWaiev pic.twitter.com/GEb2n9pNbL
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) September 14, 2023
“The woman in this truck approached protesters in #Charlottesville, and told us that we would make ‘good speedbumps,’” Bryant, then 19, wrote. “She then called the police and started crying saying we were attacking her.” Bryant followed with a series of videos, but they did not show the alleged remarks, as Reason noted in a detailed article on the incident.
The group that organized the protest, Charlottesville Beyond Policing, followed by writing on Medium:
… this rally and march was disturbed by a UVA student, Morgan Bettinger. Morgan drove around the public works truck blocking the street that demonstrators were convened on, and felt compelled to say, not just once, but twice, that protesters would “make good speed bumps.” The second time she repeated it loudly to a Black protester and added “good f***ing speed bumps.”
The story was amplified by local media; Bryant started a campaign demanding Bettinger’s expulsion.
Bettinger said she had been driving home from work when she saw a dump truck blocking the road. She added that the truck didn’t appear to be completely blocking the intersection, so she passed it, only later realizing the road was blocked ahead. She added that she exited her car and the truck driver began a conversation with her, during which she stated something like, “It’s a good thing that you are here, because otherwise these people would have been speed bumps.” She said what she said had intended to thank the truck driver for protecting the protesters, some of whom were sitting in the street.
An inquiry by professional investigators at the university’s Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR) found that three of Bryant’s four allegations that she said happened before a large crowd could not be corroborated by other witnesses, Reason reported, and the fourth, that Bettinger yelled protesters would make “good speed bumps,” had one witness claiming it happened, but that witness contradicted Bryant and herself when interviewed. Additionally, Bryant later altered her story on that claim, acknowledging she wasn’t certain she heard Bettinger make that statement at all, according to a report from the EOCR.
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“While Bettinger eventually graduated from the university, she did so with a permanent mark on her record and a destroyed reputation,” Reason reported. “But despite two separate investigations, there’s no evidence beyond Bryant’s allegations that Bettinger said protestors would make ‘good f***ing speed bumps’ or that she threatened the protesters at all.”
Bryant wrote on Instagram, “#DovePartner Fat liberation is something we should all be talking about! That’s why I am partnering with Dove, to support the work of @naafaofficial, @flareforjustice in the Campaign for Size Freedom. Tell us what Fat Liberation means to you using the hashtag #sizefreedom and tagging @dove to share your story.”