The American Cancer Society has canceled a gala at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, joining the Cleveland Clinic, which announced plans Thursday to cancel an annual fundraiser at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort.
The decision to cancel the Island of Palm Beach gala comes a few days after President Trump said that some of the people that attended a neo-nazi and white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend were “very fine people” and that “both sides” were to blame for the violence. The cancer society refused to comment on whether the cancellation was caused by Trump’s statements.
“When we chose to hold our 2018 event and related dinner at Mar-a-Lago, we selected the venue based on a variety of factors, including costs and venue requirements,” the cancer society said. “Our values and commitment to diversity are critical as we work to address the impact of cancer in every community. It has become increasingly clear that the challenge to those values is outweighing other business considerations.”
The society’s Palm Beach branch held an event called “Rock Palm Beach” at Mar-a-Lago in February.
It had held events at Mar-a-Lago for the past decade.
The cancer society is the latest group to pull out of a planned event at the resort. The Cleveland Clinic announced Thursday that it would not host its annual fundraiser gala at the club next year.
Other businesses have been scaling back in the wake of Trump’s explosive comments about the Charlottesville violence. Helen Heyer, a 32-year-old counter protester, was killed and 19 people were injured when a man with Nazi sympathies drove his car into a throng of protesters.
Trump’s remarks led to a litany of CEOs leaving White House advisory councils, leading Trump to disband two councils.
