A Black business owner in Des Moines, Iowa, is accusing a landlord of kicking his business out of the building because he participated in a George Floyd protest.

On Saturday, Jeremiah Johnson shared a video on Twitter of his landlord berating him for being seen on the local news protesting the killing of Floyd. In his tweet, Johnson said his business was thrown out of its office space because the landlord disagreed with the protests in Iowa.

"We got kicked out from our business office space by our landlord cuz he saw us on the news peacefully protesting. Violating our 1st amendment rights and the lease. Please share this video! When other people protest for haircuts, it’s great! But when I protest peaceful it’s bad!!" he wrote.

We got kicked out from our business office space by our landlord cuz he saw us on the news peacefully protesting.Violating our 1st amendment rights and the lease. Please share this video! When other people protest for haircuts, it’s great! But when I protest peaceful it’s bad!! pic.twitter.com/PuGkC3QMmA

— Jeremiah Johnson (@jeremiah_miah11) June 6, 2020

According to TMZ, Johnson owns a retail store called Stylent Brands.

These were the pictures he saw on the news that made him think we were doing criminal acts. I’ll never support looting because I own small businesses in the U.S and back home in my country Liberia. I’ll always stand up for what’s right regardless of what a rich guy thinks pic.twitter.com/AqlaO4zYp7

— Jeremiah Johnson (@jeremiah_miah11) June 7, 2020

Throughout the video, the landlord implies that Johnson and his friends were "involved in criminal activity" by attending the protest, which was peaceful.

Johnson has already filed a lawsuit against the landlord, and he shared an email the landlord sent with inflammatory statements about Black people and protests.

"We live in a day an age where people demand rights who have never earned anything or done anything to deserve them … let alone respect," the landlord wrote to Johnson.

The video has more than 4 million views on Twitter and over 100,000 likes. Thanks to thousands of shares, business is now booming for the sportswear brand. But in a statement on the company's GoFundMe page, Johnson said they still need help.

"As you all know, we've been kicked out from our office space because our landlord said he saw us on the news while peacefully protesting, exercising our 1st amendment right as Americans. He also claimed in an email that we were protesting for 'rights' that we didn't earn. There's nothing more that we value than our human rights," Johnson wrote.

"Due to the fact that we currently don't have a building, this has been a major set back for us. We have invested so much time, effort, and money into the office, and getting kicked out has really pushed us back. On top of all our issues, COVID-19 has really slowed down our progress as well," he added.

The page has brought in more than $17,000 in donations already.

Thousands of people have turned out for protests against police brutality across Iowa in recent days, according to the Des Moines Register.

Des Moines

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