John Sullivan, the man who was arrested for his part in the U.S. Capitol rioting, was an Olympic speed skating hopeful and appeared in an Uber commercial before he made a left-wing turn in his politics and became an activist.
Sullivan appeared in the commercial as a speed skater and aspiring Olympian. It aired in August 2016 on national television according to PT News.
Here’s the commercial from the Uber YouTube account:
A little drive goes a long way – Speed Skater | Uber
youtu.be
In his Twitter account, John Sullivan posted the Uber commercial in 2016 alongside other tweets documenting his skating dreams.
I added a video to a @YouTube playlist https://t.co/KE8PsrCD9n A little drive goes a long way – Speed Skater
— John Sullivan (@John Sullivan)1465338760.0
He also raised $2,680 through a GoFundMe campaign to help fund his Olympic dreams.
The account appeared to be under the screen name @johnjohn809, but was later changed to @activistjohn.
Image Source: Twitter screenshot
In 2018, he competed in the Olympic Trials.
Olympic’s John Sullivan
youtu.be
But after that, he appeared to take a turn and became a left-wing activist that insulted President Donald Trump on social media. James Sullivan, his brother, told PT News that he became radicalized very quickly.
“It has hurt our family,” James said. “My Mother cries most days.”
John Sullivan founded Insurgence USA, a left-wing activist organization, after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He told KUTV that he had traveled to Washington D.C. in order to document various protests, but a federal affidavit quotes him as encouraging the rioting from inside the Capitol.
After the crowd broke through the last barricade, and as SULLIVAN and the others approach the Capitol Building, SULLIVAN can be heard in the video saying at various points: ‘There are so many people. Let’s go. This s— is ours! F— yeah,’ ‘We accomplished this s—. We did this together. F— yeah! We are all a part of this history,’ and ‘Let’s burn this s— down.
He was charged with crimes related to violently entering a restricted building.
In a bizarre twist of irony, Klete Keller, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and ardent Trump supporter, was also arrested for his part in the Capitol rioting.
Sullivan has admitted that he is a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. He sells t-shirts, knives, gas masks, and other BLM-related tactical gear at his website.
Here’s more about the arrest of John Sullivan:
Utah activist John Sullivan arrested for involvement in Capitol riot
www.youtube.com
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