Allstate CEO Tom Wilson ignited a firestorm of backlash on social media Thursday with a video statement addressing Wednesday’s terror attack in New Orleans that killed more than a dozen people.
Wilson’s statement came ahead of the Sugar Bowl, of which Allstate is the official corporate sponsor, after the game was postponed to Thursday due to the attack. In the video, Wilson suggested Americans have an “addiction to divisiveness” and must “accept people’s imperfections and differences.”
“Our prayers went to victims and their families. We also need to be stronger together by overcoming an addiction to divisiveness and negativity. Join Allstate working in local communities all across America to amplify the positive, increase trust and accept people’s imperfections and differences. Together we win,” Wilson says in the video.
Wilson’s words sparked outrage among social media users. The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar. The FBI is working to determine Jabbar’s “potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” after an ISIS flag was found affixed to the truck.
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Political activist Charlie Kirk spoke out against Wilson for his comments amid Jabbar’s suspected ties to ISIS.
Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of conservative magazine The Federalist, suggested it’s time to cancel Allstate insurance plans.
Sports content creator Jon Root spoke out against Wilson and mocked his comments.
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Injury lawyer Adam Loewy not only condemned Wilson’s statement, he called out Allstate as a company in response to the controversy.
Other smaller social media users have expressed their own grievances and intent to end their insurance plans in response to Wilson.
“What was Allstate thinking with that statement[?] I have just canceled my policy and signed up with State Farm,” one user wrote.
“That limp-wristed Allstate commercial about the terrorist attack is just what I needed to know that I won’t give them my business,” another wrote.
And one user even called the commercial “The worst, most ill-conceived of the college football season.”
Allstate provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to the backlash.
“To be clear, Allstate CEO Tom Wilson unequivocally condemns this heinous act of terrorism and violence in all forms. We stand with the families of the victims, their loved ones and the community of New Orleans. The reference to overcoming divisiveness and negativity reflects a broader commitment to fostering trust and positivity in communities across the nation,” the statement read.
Jabbar’s younger brother told the New York Times that he and his Army veteran brother were raised Christian in Beaumont, Texas, before the now-deceased attacker converted to Islam as an adult.
“What he did does not represent Islam,” the younger brother said. “This is more some type of radicalization, not religion.”
Retired FBI agents Scott Duffey and Chris Swecker told Fox News Digital that Wednesday’s attack could embolden ISIS, other terrorist groups or individuals who have been radicalized.
“This is a time where ISIS is under extreme stress and their existence is being threatened in Syria and elsewhere. It would make sense for them to double down on their message to radicalize Americans to put them into action and activate any cells that they have in place,” Swecker said.
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Days before the attack, a pro-ISIS outlet called on Muslims living in the U.S., Europe and Russia to conduct attacks on New Year’s Eve.
“Oh monotheists in Europe, America, Russia and other lands of the Crusaders, we know that you are eager to join your brothers in the land of Jihad, but the paths have been cut off for you,” a translated version of the post read on Sunday. “The Crusaders are among you. Their security has been prolonged, and your brothers are being killed.
“The time has come to take out the swords from their sheaths and to hamstring the horses in their places that Allah loves and is pleased with,” the post continued. “They are preparing for the feast of their polytheism, so turn their feast into mourning and their joy into a calamity.”
The outlet asked Muslims, or “Crusaders,” if they felt safe in their homes as their brothers and sisters were in detention centers and camps before calling on them to “repeat the attack on them and repeat the days of those who preceded you on this path.”
The attack in New Orleans comes nearly two weeks after a suspected terror attack on a Christmas market in Germany.
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