KALMAZOO, MI — A new nonprofit extension of the Broncos Kitchen Foundation has been put on blast by its namesake, who apparently never signed off on the use of his name in affiliation with the nonprofit.
The official Twitter account of actor and literary advocate LeVar Burton tweeted shortly after noon Tuesday, July 5, that the recently formed account for the LeVar Burton Library through the Broncos Kitchen Foundation in Kalamazoo is not affiliated with the actor in any way.
“This should not be OK,” Burton’s official twitter account declared. “It is clearly a scam! Any help in reporting is truly appreciated. Oh… and Happy Tuesday!”
Burton’s tweet was a direct response to a tweet from the newly formed account that, on July 3, asked for tax-deductible donations to help make the foundation’s vision for a library one step closer to a reality.
The founder of the LeVar Burton Library, the Rev. William Stein, when contacted by the Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive said he was greatly disheartened to learn of Burton’s tweet and was concerned that it would lead people to believe his library project was not legitimate and had no credibility. Stein told the Gazette that he and his board had reached out to Burton numerous times through his website and tweeted to him while in the process of establishing the nonprofit, but never received a response from Burton or any member of his team.
“This is not a scam,” Stein said. “We wouldn’t have reported it to the state of…
