Maroc - RAWSTORY.COM - Raw Story - 12/Aug 15:13

Right-wing podcaster bought West Virginia skate park — then rebellion ensued

The Washington Post's Will Sommer has written a lengthy report about tensions that have erupted after right-wing podcaster Tim Pool purchased property that housed a skateboarding park in West Virginia.The saga began back in August of 2023 when regulars at the venue in Martinsburg, West Virginia rejected Pool's offer of $20,000 in prize money for the park's 10-year anniversary celebration.Some skaters informed Pool that not only was he not welcome at their event but that he would "be removed if he showed up," Sommer writes.Chace Amos, a regular at the park, told Sommer that he and other skaters who objected to Pool aren't committed left-wingers by any stretch of the imagination, and simply insisted that "we didn't want to be associated with that hateful stuff" that Pool regularly spews on his podcast.ALSO READ: How Harris and Walz are fighting Trump with joy and positivity — and winningAnother organizer said that they simply didn't want Pool publicizing the existence of what they saw as their private skate park.“We didn’t want a billion people showing up to our small town DIY looking for a $20k payday,” one tells Sommer. “We’re not in wheel sports for a paycheck."Pool didn't take this snub lying down, however, and instead bought the land where the skate park was located, along with a nearby building, for $850,000 months later.Pool would justify the purchase later by saying that now the skaters could no longer block him from being on the property.“They don’t own the spot,” Pool explained. "By what right do they have to tell me I can’t stand on a derelict piece of property where they’re squatting?”Amos tells Sommer that many of his fellow skaters have stayed away ever since Pool bought it, as they suspect he will make it into a private skate park in the future.However, Sommer writes that the anti-Pool skaters left a going-away present for him at the park."Amid the usual skatepark graffiti, nestled above a drawing of Garfield the cat smoking a joint, someone spray-painted a message implying that Pool can’t pull off a skateboarding trick called the 'slappy grind,'" Sommer reports. "Their message: 'Tim Pool can’t slappy.'"