Shaun King Takes Credit for Hamas Hostages Release, Their Family Says ‘Shaun Who?’

Shaun King Takes Credit for Hamas Hostages Release, Their Family Says ‘Shaun Who?’

Shaun King is infamous for many things, including trying to pass himself off as a black man, causing an innocent man to commit suicide (and his family to get death threats) after he falsely accused the man of murdering a 7-year-old girl, and being a race-hustling grifter who profits off of grieving parents.

King is also anti-Semitic, as past statements and current ones (pretty much everything on his Instagram page) will attest.

One thing King wants people to believe is that he is some sort of national hero, as he did in a post he wrote to Instagram in which he, incredibly, tried to take credit for Hamas’ release of two American hostages, Judith and Natalie Raanan.

His original post on their release, in which he also claimed “Natalie and her family have been supporters of mine,” appears to have been deleted, but here’s what he wrote:

“Hamas has just freed the teenager Natalie Raanan and her mother. I’m grateful. As I said last week, Natalie and her family have been supporters of mine and protested police violence in America alongside us. I am also thankful for the Qatari government for helping to negotiate this. Dozens of us worked frantically behind the scenes to help make this possible. I spoke to Natalie’s family this afternoon and they are anxiously awaiting more updates.”

On October 10, 10 days before the two were released, King wrote on Instagram:

“ This is Natalie Raanan. She’s a teenager and is believed to have been taken hostage near Gaza border this weekend. She’s an American citizen and just graduated high school in Illinois earlier this year. ➡️ Her dear family has asked that I help them find her and bring her to safety.“

“Natalie and her family are supporters of mine, protested against police brutality in the United States with me, and have spoken out against injustice in Israel. I believe we have confirmed that she was NOT killed in Israel, but we are just asking for proof of life right now. “

Shaun “Talcum X” King blocked me because he was tired of me making fun of him.

He’s claiming credit for Hamas freeing their hostages.

Shaun “Martin Luther Cream” King, who doesn’t do *anything* unless there’s a payment to him, is claiming HE called up Hamas and was just like… pic.twitter.com/fkMHu6tAsW

— Zeek Arkham 🇺🇸 (@ZeekArkham) October 21, 2023

Because of King’s notorious history, many on social media began questioning his story and calling it BS. Their suspicions seemed to be confirmed with the release of a statement from the Raanan family in which they say they don’t know King and do not agree with his pro-Hamas views:

“Today we came across bizarre posts on the Instagram page of one Shaun King, who turns out to have millions of followers, who claims that our relative Natalie Raanan supports the anti-Israeli messages he uploads to his page.

First and foremost, we make it clear that he is lying! Our family does not and did not have anything to do with him, neither directly nor indirectly. Not to him and not to anything he claims to represent.

Natalie told us that this morning it was the first time in her life that she came across Shaun King’s name and his posts, after she finally got a phone call after two horrific weeks in captivity in Gaza, and was looking for what was written about her while she was away.

Shaun King is trying to catch a ride on the great exposure that her kidnapping received all over the world and in the US in particular, and the most ridiculous thing is that Natalie and her mother Judith are very active in Rabbi Hecht’s Jewish community in Chicago and in the Chabad house, and if Shaun King knew them or their family he would know that.

We ask not to be quick on the keyboard and share things without checking them in depth. Mainly not to believe people who speak for others. The damage that the sharing of these lies does is so huge, and the effort of our family and all the families of the abductees should be focused on bringing them home, and not fighting the lies that are being spread like wildfire.

We’re not done, we’ve just started. We have 2 more murdered in the family and 8 more family members still kidnapped, and there are over 200 more families in our situation. Now we need the support of all the people of Israel and all the countries of the world to bring everyone home as soon as possible!”

Here is the full, translated statement from the Raanan family in response to Shaun King’s bizarre claim that he played a part in getting Judith and Natalie Raanan released by Hamas:

"Today we came across bizarre posts on the Instagram page of one Shaun King, who turns out to…

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 21, 2023

In turn, King has posted what he claims are “receipts” from Natalie Raanan’s brother, Ben, which King says prove that Ben Raanan specifically sought him out for help on the release/return of his sister. Please note that these “receipts” are unconfirmed and that Ben Raanan now has his Instagram account locked down:

Here is where Ben Raanan, the older brother of Natalie Raanan, first reached out to me for help finding and rescuing his sister.

This was in the afternoon of October 9th. We spoke and texted and messaged 100+ times after this.

I’ll provide those texts here.

Ask him directly. pic.twitter.com/cxPRkCpc5y

— Shaun King (@shaunking) October 21, 2023

Here is the first text from Ben Raanan, brother Natalie Raanan, to me on the evening of October 9th. pic.twitter.com/Puv8MZQUcZ

— Shaun King (@shaunking) October 21, 2023

King went on to post more screengrabs of their alleged text conversations, said he had taped phone conversations, and urged the media to contact Ben Raanan directly if they had questions since he’d appeared on networks like CNN and ABC7 Chicago previously to discuss his captive family members.

On Instagram, King tried to blame the American and Israeli governments for what he says were lies they tried to “frame” him with:

Shaun King: Biden and Netanyahu framed me!!! pic.twitter.com/zSAEeAuJIb

— Veronica McDonald🗣 (@Purify_toast17) October 21, 2023

In another post on Instagram (not embeddable), King told his followers that he was “not addressing that hostage situation ever again” even though he was the one who deliberately called attention to himself and his alleged efforts at getting the hostages freed.

“The family asked for my help. I advocated for her alongside many others. She’s free,” he also wrote.

Like many people, I’m not giving King the benefit of the doubt on the alleged communications with the brother because he’s lied too often in the past to be trusted.

But for purposes of discussion, let’s say the communications were authentic. So what? They don’t prove that King had anything at all to do with the release of Judith and Natalie Raanan. In fact, it was likely entirely coincidental. I mean can you imagine the Qatari/Hamas governments sitting down at the table to discuss the issue and concluding that they needed to release them because a guy like Shaun King said so?

Further, again assuming for purposes of discussion that the brother did reach out to King, what a despicable thing to do to this family to not only boast about your alleged role in their release before they’ve even been able to make it home but also to release the private conversations from a brother who no doubt was desperate for his family members to be returned home alive.

I mean what kind of creep does this? Shaun King, that’s who.

Even if King had a role in what eventually happened, he should have kept his trap shut as it is the family’s right, not King’s, to reveal the who, what, when, where, and how should they see fit to do so and in their own time. But King is such an attention-seeking poseur that he actually thought it would be a good idea to make himself the focal point of the story of the release of two American hostages by Hamas.

I’d say “Shame on Shaun King,” but as history has shown us, he has none.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.