Boy Dressed As Carson King For Halloween Raises $10K For Hospital
BONDURANT, IA — More money will flow to a University of Iowa children’s hospital, thanks to an Iowa 9-year-old’s Carson King-inspired Halloween costume. King, you may recall, is the internet phenomenon who raised more than $3 million for the hospital with his “College GameDay” sign asking for money to replenish his supply of Busch beer.
Sam Hall donned Iowa State University Cyclone gear and hoisted a similar sign — saying he needed to replenish his root beer supply. On the back, the Bondurant youth wrote that instead of candy, he’d take donations to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
King showed up at Sam’s house on Sunday, bringing with him some A&W root beer and candy.
“Little guy has a heart of gold,” King wrote on Twitter.
Cindy Hall wrote on Facebook Thursday that her son decided a month ago that he wanted to dress as Carson King for Halloween “and has not wavered a bit!” His mother set up an account on the digital payments app Venmo — the same one used by King in his joke-turned-fundraiser to receive donations.
Sam got a solid round of applause in comments on his mother’s social media posts.
“Oh how creative!” one person wrote. “Sam is one clever young philanthropist! How can anyone possibly not LOVE this young genius?”
Another person wrote about being “touched by Carson’s original intentions and was so happy to inspire good and unity around the world,” adding: “Your son has inspired the same; please tell him how awesome of a thing he has done from perfect strangers.”
King weighed in early after seeing Hall’s post: “Sam is a Superhero,” he wrote.
“Takes one to know one,” Hall replied.
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The 24-year-old King meant the Busch beer money plea as a prank, but quickly realized what he had unleashed with the sign flashed across television screens during ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcast in early September. By the time he received $600 in his Venmo account, King decided to donate the money to the children’s hospital.
As the money poured in, King became an overnight hero, the Des Moines Register dug into King’s background for a profile and unearthed a couple of racially charged tweets he made in 2012, as a 16-year-old high-school sophomore. The tweets, quoting the Comedy Central television program “Tosh.0,” compared black mothers to gorillas and made light of black Holocaust victims.
Criticism of the Register was swift, and weeks later, the newspaper continues to be battered over its decision to publish the tweets King made.
King, though, was never critical of the newspaper Instead, he said he appreciated the opportunity to address the old tweets.
“In rereading those today — eight years later — I see it was an attempt at humor that was offensive and hurtful,” he said in a statement..
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Buoyed by his success in raising money for the children’s hospital, King has turned his attention to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which helps critically ill children realize some of their dreams. The Iowa chapter of Make-A-Wish uses the Tour de Lights holiday display in Altoona, where King works as a casino security guard, as one of its fundraising vehicles.