A charity flag-football game organized to benefit Ventura County Sgt. Ron Helus who was killed in the Borderline club shooting in 2018, was cancelled because Trump-supporting actor Scott Baio was set to speak at the event and Trump-supporting singer Joy Villa was to sing the national anthem:
EXCLUSIVE: A charity football event in honor of fallen Ventura Co. Sgt. Ron Helus has been postponed after organizers say a local police chief took issue w/ Trump supporters @Joy_Villa & @ScottBaio being invited to speak. Law enforcement pulled out, & so did sponsors. 10pm @FOXLA
All money is being returned to donors:
The charity event was supported by Sgt. Helus’ wife, Karen, & she had met with the organizers. All money now being returned to donors and event’s future is unclear/uncertain. @FOXLA
Well, if there’s any good to come out of this, the fundraiser is now a national story and hopefully will raise even more money:
PLEASE #JOYTRIBE let’s show them they can’t stop us! Donate to the charity whose the one who really lost from the Dems banning us: thefallenofficers.com/support-us
A charity flag football event in honor of fallen Ventura County Sgt. Ron Helus, the deputy killed in the Borderline mass shooting in 2018, has been put on hold after organizers say a local police chief and a Democratic politician derailed it because they didn't want Republicans at the event.
Jerseys with Sgt. Helus' name were donated by the L.A. Rams and footballs with his image were ready to be signed by Rams players. Sgt. Helus' wife had already met with organizers and supported the event.
The Blue Bowl was supposed to happen at Newbury Park High School on Sunday. Thousands of dollars had already been raised for Sgt. Helus' family, but now all that money is being returned to donors after organizers say Thousand Oaks Police Chief Tim Hagel convinced organizations to pull out of the event.
Mike Randall, Vice President of the Fallen Officers Foundation, which organizes the Blue Bowl, says things started going south when he allegedly got a text from Hagel saying there were serious issues with the event, specifically that the speakers would cause local political issues.
The Blue Bowl speaker list was bipartisan. It included Gov. Gavin Newsom's public safety liason, Trump supporter Scott Baio, who went to the same church as Sgt. Helus, as well as Trump-supporting singer Joy Villa, who was to sing the national anthem.
Randall says in a phone call, Hagel questioned why the Trump supporters were invited.
"He basically said over and over in the conversation this is not Trump country, that slogan 'Make America Great' is not favorable, popular, within 1,200 square miles, that we don’t want Republicans here, I could not believe it... We were totally floored by this comment, 'the only thing,' and I quote, 'the only thing you coulda made this worse, Mike, was to invite dick Cheney and Sarah Huckabee Sanders,' and I went...wow are you kidding me?" Randall said.
Randall told FOX 11 that Hagel also said he was contacted by Democratic Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin who was allegedly upset that her previous election opponent local Republican attorney Ronda Kennedy had been invited.
Randall says Hagel told him to get rid of the Republican speakers or else he would tell the Venturas County Sheriff's Department and local politicians to pull out of the Blue Bowl. When he refused, he allegedly received a text from Hagel saying that after speaking with the Sheriff, they were respectfully pulling out, then, confirmed the decision in a phone call.
"He goes 'yeah this ain’t gonna work for us,' I said you’re not gonna support this with the honor guard and he goes 'no we’re not bringing the honor guard we’re not coming we’re not going to be there, not supporting it'," said Randall.
Randall said that caused sponsors and politicians to drop out. The Blue Bowl is now postponed indefinitely.
When FOX 11 reached out to the Thousand Oaks Police Department to get a comment from Hagel, we were referred to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Bill Ayub provided the following statement:
Joy Villa said she was disgusted with the apparent politics at play and sent the following message:
As for Randall, he says the Foundation is offended by the Sheriff's statement and they won't back down.
"Ron Helus was a true hero, he saved lives that night, did he run in and go 'Are you Republican or Democrat or independent, I need to know before I help you?' No they don’t... You’ve messed with the wrong person, you’ve messed with the wrong founder you’ve, messed with the wrong foundation," said Randall.
The Blue Bowl is a charity event meant to honor the lives of police officers who died in the line of duty. It's a co-ed flag football tournament and raises money for families of the fallen.
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