DENVER — A metro Denver man has started a GoFundMe account proposing a wall around Colorado’s borders. Its creator, Will Hayden, said the account is a parody of a real GoFundMe that has raised more than $18 million in 12 days to pay for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.
Hayden’s account’s description reads: “Here in Colorado we are being accosted by outsiders jacking up our rent, smoking our weed and using our preciously fracked energy. We need a WALL around Colorado to stop people from entering. In addition, I promise to use these funds to attempt to force out anyone who has moved here in the last 10 years in an effort to MAKE COLORADO GREAT AGAIN!!!”
While Hayden references the president’s language, in reality, he stands firmly against Trump’s plan for a wall between Mexico and the United States.
“America should be known for tearing down walls, not building them,” Hayden told FOX31 and Channel 2, confirming the account was created as a joke.
Hayden, who lives in Northglenn, said that if someone donates to his fund — which is empty as of the posting of this article — he will give the money to a local charity like Youth on Record or Girls Rock Denver.
“I wanted to point [out] how ridiculous it is that people are donating vast amounts of money to defeat a phantom enemy when there are real issues we could be tackling right in our backyards,” said Hayden, who is originally from La Junta.
Hayden and his band Television Generation have been outspoken about a number of issues facing Denver, including gentrification, homelessness and increasing rent costs. He believes those issues are more important than those concerning President Trump.
“The issues we’re dealing with here in Denver are happening all over the country, and we’re ignoring these real domestic problems in favor of something silly like a ridiculously expensive wall that will have to be manned and maintained for no real purpose,” Hayden said.
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that Colorado had gained about 80,000 people in one year, bringing its population to 5.7 million.