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I am not sure what is the chicken, and what is the egg, but between public gossip and Larry Johnson tweets, there seems to be a movement claiming George Floyd was a Masonic Sacrifice.

Notable person making a claim.

Larry Johnson twitter

"Media" coverage

The best source I could find was canyon news

canyon news, contains image of Floyd allegedly making Masonic symbols with hands

The rest are what you would expect to find on youtube or written by someone who is not a journalist, but, wants to publish an article and get paid.

mediocre writing, but contains Larry Johnson tweets as images

5 min youtube video ranting about Floyd/Masonic Sacrifice

Single paragraph [thus garbage] article spreading gossip

~3 minute youtube video ranting about Floyd/Masonic Sacrifice/Planned race war

~8 minute youtube video "fact checking" Stephen Jackson instagram posts

Reddit forum on Larry Johnson tweeting about Stephen Jackson sacrificing Floyd

I split the title into two parts because I doubt there is going to be anything satisfactory that will conclude he was a sacrifice. If he was, and the purpose was to start a Race war, as is claimed by some, I doubt they would openly admit it. In the same vein of claims of Masonic Sacrifice however, are the claims that Floyd himself was a Mason, of which there are some claims he is photographed making "Masonic symbols"

If I have it straight, in 2016 Stephen Jackson posted an image in commemoration of his father, which seems to indicate that his father was a Mason, and also, that he, Stephen, was going to follow in his footsteps. See link 3 by canyon news. Original Stephen Jackson tweet appears to be April 17, 2016.

My Fathers Mason brothers 33 gave me something to cherish. My dads gear. Will be following your footsteps soon pop. Rest easy. Salute to all his Mason brothers.

Larry Johnson retweeted a screenshot of the post saying

Just like Travyon Martin y'all looting and rioting and looting over another Freemason Sacrifice to bring you closer to dying in the street.

Canyon news was able to verify that Johnson's tweet was authentic, but could not verify that the screenshot of the alleged Stephen Jackson Masonic tweet was authentic.

Stephen Jackson posted to instagram in late May this image Floyd with hand symbols and captioned it

I keep posting so yall can see my brother is his element and not on the ground begging for his life. Really Real. Floyd Da God. Memories to hold on to

This statement appears to be taken by conspiracy theorists (or at least Larry Johnson) to insinuate that Stephen Jackson sacrificed George Floyd. So the 2016 tweet insinuates that Jackson wanted to become a Freemason. The second post seems to insinuate Floyd was a Freemason, and Larry Johnson seems to be insinuating that Jackson became a Mason, Floyd was a Mason, and Jackson was part of sacrificing Floyd.

The canyon articles also points out that conspiracy theorists use the fact that the Floyd family attorney is a "famous Prince Hall Mason", and 2 of Floyd's children have the middle names "Mason" to fuel their speculation.

As far as I can tell it is all speculation fueling this rumor but I know nothing of the Freemasons, Jackson, or Johnson, or even really Floyd. It seems weird that there would be a mixture of Satanic and Masonic symbols... The Freemasons are not Satanic that I know of?

Would it be a fair judgement to say that this conspiracy is without merit?

Polifact rated the rumour as false, but their search was simply asking a single Masonic lodge if Floyd was a member there. Polifact

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  • 9
    I'll note that the "OK" hand sign is used in a lot of different contexts with a lot of different meanings.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Jun 18, 2020 at 20:51
  • 10
    And claiming that the use of "brother" is a sign of Masonicness is absurd, as the term is very common in AAVE.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Jun 18, 2020 at 20:53
  • 10
    What exactly does it mean to be a "Masonic sacrifice," and how could an outside observer identify one?
    – jwodder
    Jun 18, 2020 at 21:34
  • 2
    @jwodder How does a skeptic approach claims of haunted houses, since, it is unlikely an outside observer would see a ghost? Just call it quits? or look for the source leading to phenomena being interpreted as ghosts.
    – user56212
    Jun 18, 2020 at 22:07
  • 3
    I've upvoted, I think this is completely insane (and I intend on writing an answer going line by line) but former KC running back (and former MVP of my fantasy football team) Larry Johnson is a notable figure and the claims seem to originate from him.
    – DenisS
    Jun 18, 2020 at 23:03

1 Answer 1

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THE CANYON-NEWS.COM NEWS ARTICLE

Before we begin, the writer of this article self describes as a 16 year old girl from Malaysia.

Former NBA player Larry Johnson shared a screenshot of a supposed 2016 Instagram post by fellow ex-player Stephen Jackson.

The "Larry Johnson" described is not former basketball player Larry Johnson but former football player Larry Johnson.

It shows Masonic “gear” of the latter’s late father, with the caption reading: “will be following your foot steps pops… Salute to all his Mason Brothers.”

Google Reverse Image Search and Tineye do not return any results on the supposed image in question. The article states that the post cannot be found on Mr. Jackson's Instagram, and the lack of a blue check mark next to Mr. Jackson's profile means that this photo was not recently captured. Furthermore, I can not verify any details as to whether Mr. Jackson's father is alive or dead, and when he may have died if deceased.

The second Instagram post is from late May this year, and Jackson said he shared it so “[you all] can see my brother [Floyd] in his element.” Floyd and someone else in the photo can be seen holding up an alleged “Masonic hand sign,” known by some as the “O.K. sign” or the “666 sign.”

The OK guesture has no link to Satanism as far as I can tell from Wikipedia, and Google Searches return nothing either. It's also left entirely unclear why supposed Satanic symbols would be linked to Free Masonry.

Furthermore, according to this interview with Mr. Jackson, he was a member of The Bloods growing up, and the hand gesture could very well be a gang sign, as evidenced by the cover image of this article on gangculture.com showing a Blood displaying a very similar hand sign.

Jackson also referred to Floyd as his “brother” several times, despite coming from a seemingly different background.

I can't believe I have to dignify this with a response so I'm just gonna link this. Also, by this logic, Boromir and King Aragorn are Free Masons. I was in a fraternity in college, so by that logic, I'm a Free Mason.

In addition, Mr. Jackson routinely called Mr. Floyd "twin" due to their physical resemblance to each other.

Another factor linking Floyd to Masonry is Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Floyd’s family. Crump is listed as a “famous Prince Hall Mason” on the website of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ohio. A Grand Lodge is a governing body of Freemasonry in an individual jurisdiction. Crump was also the attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin, a shooting victim whose father was allegedly a Freemason.

Benjamin Crump is indeed a member of the Prince Hall Masons. This is separate from traditional Freemasonry, however (tl;dr, Freemason lodges in the 1790s were racist). In addition, Mr. Crump was most likely chosen due to the fact that he has represented a large number of racially charged cases. Please see Wikipedia:Benjamin Crump:Career for more info.

It should also be pointed out that the Trayvon Martin conspiracies were also propogated by Mr. Johnson, who we will get to in a moment.

Additionally, the middle name of two of Floyd’s children is “Mason”: Connie Mason Floyd and Quincy Mason Floyd.

This seems to be wrong. While they do have the names right, "Mason" appears to be the last name of Connie and Quincy's mother. According to interviews with Mr. Mason-Floyd, his mother had moved himself and his sister away 15 years ago, they had not seen their father since, and that Mr. Mason-Floyd had not spoken with his father in about 5 years. Mr. Mason-Floyd was introduced at a press conference as "Quincy Mason".

DEVIL HORNS

Not brought up by the Canyon-News article but in one of the video is Mr. Jackson's apparent use of "Devil Horns" to prove that he is a Satanist. Again, ignoring the fact that there is no logical leap from "Satanist" to "Free Masonry", and the fact that Mr. Jackson routinely posts religious inspirational quotes to his Instagram, the "Devil Horns" are in no way exclusive to Satanists.

Please see the Wikipedia Article on "Sign of the Horns". Notably, the horns are used by the University of Texas Longhorns, the same state where Mr. Jackson grew up.

LARRY JOHNSON

Larry Johnson hasn't quite been stable since retiring from the NFL, and claims to be suffering from CTE.

Because of memory loss, suicidal impulses, mood swings, and headaches, Johnson believes he has chronic traumatic encephalopathy (which can't be diagnosed until an autopsy is performed on the brain after death). Johnson also states that he doesn't remember playing two seasons.

This wouldn't be the first current or former professional athlete that Mr. Johnson has levied extreme claims against.

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