GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Longtime actor LeVar Burton is calling out a West Michigan charity using his name to help collect money. He says they did not get his permission.
Burton replied to a tweet on Tuesday by the “LeVar Burton Library” which was asking for donations on PayPal that would be sent to the Kalamazoo-based Broncos Kitchen Foundation which is managed by Rev. William Stein.
“This is not me nor is this effort affiliated with me in any way,” Burton said in a Tweet responding to the fundraiser page. He goes on to say “It is clearly a scam” and asks for help in reporting the fundraising effort.
13 ON YOUR SIDE called Stein on Tuesday and he said he did not have any public comment. When asked if Burton was aware that this organization was being created in his name, Stein said yes and that no one from Burton’s team has reached out to the organization to ask them to remove his name.
Stein said he was inspired by Burton’s successful campaign for the Reading Rainbow and wanted to use Burton’s name in a positive light for this campaign for the proposed library.
The LeVar Burton Library Twitter account posted what appears to be official paperwork for its nonprofit from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) and the Internal Revenue Service.
A spokesperson for LARA told 13 ON YOUR SIDE that Stein filed documents for Broncos Kitchen Foundation to become a corporation in June of 2021 and filed for a Certificate of Assumed Name for the LeVar Burton Library on Tuesday.
The library responded on Twitter saying “Any accusations to the contrary are lies."
“Get your facts straight," they added.
The library’s Twitter included pictures of a location in Kalamazoo for the proposed library and said on July 3 that it wanted to purchase the property within 60 days.
The tweet included a link to a GoFundMe which has been deleted or removed from its website.
LeVar Burton is an award winning actor best known for his role as Geordi La Forge on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” hosting “Reading Rainbow” on PBS and his breakthrough role on the 1977 ABC miniseries “Roots.”
The library Tweeted out that the Broncos Kitchen Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) corporation registered with the Internal Revenue Service and the LeVar Burton Library is an Assumed Name associated with the same.
13 ON YOUR SIDE has contacted Mr. Burton for comment but has not yet heard back.
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