Lawrence B. Jones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lawrence B. Jones
Lawrence Jones by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Lawrence Jones speaking at the 2018 CPAC in National Harbor, Maryland.
Born
Lawrence Billy Jones III

(1992-12-10) December 10, 1992 (age 29)
Texas, U.S.
EducationUniv. of North Texas[1]
Garland High School
OccupationRadio host, television host, commentator
EmployerFox News
Websitehttps://www.lawrencejones.com/

Lawrence Billy Jones III (born December 10, 1992) is an American libertarian political commentator, Fox News contributor, talk radio host, and author. He came to prominence in 2015 for raising money for a pizza shop that refused to cater a gay wedding.[2]

Early life[]

Jones was raised by his mother, Tameria and father, Lawrence Jones II. Jones has stated that he served as "youth mayor" of Garland, Texas in 2009.[3] He graduated from Garland High School in 2011.[4] Thereafter, Jones studied political science and criminal justice at the University of North Texas.[1]

Career[]

Jones was hired as student advocate in the Garland Independent School District, becoming their youngest employee.[4][5] When he was 19, he ran for a seat on the school board for this district, but lost the election.[3] He served two years as a board member for Dallas County Child Welfare.[6][7] In 2016, Jones was on the Garland Parks and Recreation Board.[8]

In 2013, he was named Activist of the Year by FreedomWorks.[6] That year, he was asked by Project Veritas, a conservative organization founded by James O'Keefe which is known for publishing secretly-recorded videos, for the purpose of exposing allegations of fraud among vendors who enrolled individuals in the healthcare marketplace of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[3]

In April 2015, Jones created a fundraiser for Memories Pizza, a pizza shop in Indiana that closed after receiving backlash when its owners said they would refuse to cater a gay wedding if asked. The fundraiser raised $844,000 for the family, and which was used in part for bills and partly donated to charity and the owner's church.[9][10]

He hosts The Lawrence Jones Show on TheBlaze Radio Network.[11] He was previously a contributor to conservative television show Dana, hosted by Dana Loesch on Blaze Media.[12][2]

In February 2018, Jones became editor-in-chief of the conservative website Campus Reform.[13][14]

In October 2019, Jones relocated to New York City after it was announced that he had been promoted to a regular substitute host and co-host role at Fox News.[15]

Jones considers himself to be Libertarian.[16]

Controversies[]

In April 2019, Jones wore a small bulletproof vest during a Fox News segment where he was at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas. He was subsequently mocked online, and a number of journalists who routinely cover the border region said they have never used protective gear in the course of the reporting. In his next appearance on Fox News, Jones wore a larger vest and said that the U.S. Border Patrol had told him to wear a bulletproof vest for his safety.[17][18][19]

In May 2018, he claimed on Fox News that, because ESPN personality Jemele Hill was unemployed, she therefore did not deserve a journalism award from the National Association of Black Journalists, and that the NABJ was seeking to "applaud unemployment."[14]

In July 2019, Jones blamed the Barack Obama Administration for a lenient plea deal that sex offender and accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein received in 2008, incorrectly asserting that Obama was president at the time.[20]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Lawrence Billy Jones III".
  2. ^ a b Moyer, Justin Wm. (6 April 2016). "Conservative commentator Lawrence B. Jones behind crowdfunding for Ind. pizza shop that won't cater gay wedding". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Nicholson, Eric (14 November 2013). "Meet Lawrence B. Jones III, the UNT Student Behind the Obamacare-Navigator Sting". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  4. ^ a b Howard, Greg (20 January 2012). "Just a Year After Graduating From Garland ISD, He Wants to Help Run the School District". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  5. ^ "About". Lawrence B. Jones. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  6. ^ a b Bodnar, Jackie (29 September 2014). "FreedomWorks Announces 2013 Activist of the Year: Lawrence Jones". FreedomWorks. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  7. ^ Commissioner's Court Agenda - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 (PDF) (Report). The County of Dallas. 29 January 2013.
  8. ^ Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Board (Report). Recreation Board of the City of Garland, Texas. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  9. ^ Murphy, Doyle (1 April 2015). "Donors raise cash for Indiana pizza shop's gay marriage slap". New York Daily News. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  10. ^ Tynan, Dan (6 April 2015). "The $800,000 Windfall for Memories Pizza: It Started as a Joke". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  11. ^ "TheBlaze". TheBlaze. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  12. ^ Golgowski, Nina (3 April 2015). "Over $750K raised for Memories Pizza after anti-gay backlash". New York Daily News. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Lawrence Jones". Campus Reform. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  14. ^ a b "'Fox & Friends' guest says Jemele Hill isn't worthy of award because she's unemployed. (She's not.)". The Washington Post. 2018.
  15. ^ "Media Relations | Fox News". Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  16. ^ "Black, Libertarian & curious: Fox contributor studied at UNT | Denton Record-Chronicle". Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  17. ^ "A Fox News Contributor Was Mocked For Wearing What Looked Like A Tiny Bulletproof Vest At The Border". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  18. ^ "Fox News contributor mocked for wearing 'totally ridiculous' body armor at the border". The Washington Post. 2019.
  19. ^ "Fox News contributor wears protective vest at the border – among the safest spots in the U.S." The Mercury News. 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  20. ^ Rupar, Aaron (2019-07-10). "One day encapsulated everything that's wrong with Fox News". Vox. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
Retrieved from ""